


"Master Quest"

by Night-Mare (Aoife)



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author loves to chat in the Comments, Dino (Reborn) as Impa, Flame Active Character(s), Flame Lore (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Fucked Up Training Exercises, Gen, Hibari Kyoya as Zelda, Innuendo, Inspired by Sword Art Online, Katekyo Hitman Reborn Characters in the Zelda Universe, Lambo (Reborn) as Saria, Master Quest, Mukuro (Reborn) as Kaepora Gaebora | Rauru, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Sawada Tsunayoshi, Pastiche, Rated for Tsuna’s Potty Mouth, Reborn Thinks This Is Funny, Reborn as Navi, Sasagawa Ryohei as Darunia, Sawada Tsuna as Link, The (Child) Hero Triumphant Timeline, Worldbuilding, Xanxus as Ganondorf, Yamamoto Takeshi as Ruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-03-27 12:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 49,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13880973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare
Summary: "Reborn!""You weren't taking your training seriously, and I decided to take a leaf out of your current favourite manga, Dame-Tsuna. You should recognise the game.""You didn't." He'd been reading Sword Art Online, and of course Reborn would think that full immersion into a video game was afantasticidea.





	1. In the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Ocarina of Time [Characters](https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05-ocarina-of-time-characters.php), [Bosses](https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05-ocarina-of-time-boss-guide.php), [Enemies](https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05-ocarina-of-time-enemies.php) and [Items](https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05-ocarina-of-time-items.php)
> 
>  
> 
> [Reborn Wikia](http://reborn.wikia.com/wiki/Reborn_Wiki)

"Reborn!" This wasn't _his_ bed. Nor did this smell like his Kaasan's home, and that could only mean his tutor was causing chaos.

"You weren't taking your training seriously, and I decided to take a leaf out of your current favourite manga, Dame-Tsuna. You should recognise the game." His tutor's voice was even more high pitch than normal, and had an odd ring to it.

"You didn't." He'd been reading Sword Art Online, and of course Reborn would think that full immersion into a video game was a _fantastic_ idea. He opened his eyes, and was almost relieved for them to reveal the inside of a tree-house.

"I did. Mukuro assures me that most of your improvements in stamina and skill should translate into the real world. He even got the others involved in this. I believe the Varia Officers and Xanxus are playing your major opponents, and your Guardians are the temple prizes." He rubbed his palms over his eyes trying to push away the world that his Mist Guardian had dropped him into. When that failed, he cursed and pushed himself off the bed, and wobbled over to the mirror. He was greeted by an image that was hybrid of his own and Link's, and he cursed. "Well, what are you waiting for, Dame-Tsuna? And Mukuro said something about enabling Master Quest mode as he was allowing your Guardians to join in the fun. Eventually."

He was so _fucked_. At least he didn't _have_ to listen to Reborn-Navi unless Mukuro had disabled that feature. "What happens if I die?"

"You wake up here feeling like you've spent a week in Dying Will Mode. The only way out is past Ganon. Xanxus is having a _lot_ of fun playing him, by the way." He groans, and wriggles his shoulders trying to settle the Kokiri tunic properly. If he remembers things properly, then one of the Kokiri wasn't going to allow him to see the Deku Tree until he found himself a sword and shield, and wasn't there one in one of the caves above the village?

There was also a number of Deku Baba, and the boulders he'd expected and he cursed Mukuro out in his head because he'd never played the Master Quest mode, and this suggested that his knowledge of the damn dungeons _wasn't_ going to help him very much. Worse, the sword wasn't where he remembered it, and he couldn't do half the things that he remembered the character he was playing was capable of. Reborn-Navi squeaked, and when he didn't pay attention to 'her' - he grinned and wondered which of his Guardians was going to be playing Ruto - clipped his ear in a way that felt like a gun-shot and he hissed and rubbed at it. "You didn't think we'd make it easy for you, did you, Dame-Tsuna?"

He scowls, and explores the entire area, pressing himself against the walls, and how was this going to help with his training? Takeshi was the swordsman! He flinches, calling for his Flames when of the Deku-Baba lurches for him, and he's going to kill his Mist. He can't reach his Sky, but at least he doesn't feel cold like he's Sealed again, just drained, and fuck. No wonder Reborn was confident he was trapped; Mukuro was using him as the battery for the world and he was never letting Mukuro and Byakuran on the same continent again _ever_.

He'd been half-hoping for his gloves to be in the treasure chest he _finally_ locates (and ow, being hit by one of those sodding boulders _hurt_ , and the beep of what he assumed was his heart meter was _annoying_ ), but no, it's a short sword, like it would be in the game. It resembles the one he's seen Squalo wield in practice, and this is going to hurt learning to use it, and didn't Reborn say the Varia Officers were playing the Bosses? Xanxus's Rain was going to laugh himself hoarse at his attempts to fight with a sword.

He skips out on the first visit to the Lost Woods; he was going to have to spend enough time in there later in the game, and he hated that part. For some reason, it was even creepier to him than the Spirit Temple, and instead spent the time hunting for rupees in and around the village and found Lambo in Saria's place. That made him raise a confused eyebrow at Navi, but annoyingly Reborn just jinked, doing the equivalent of laughing at him. His Lightning hugged him, and okay, he could see why he was the choice for the Forest Guardian. Lambo was openly affectionate towards him, and still childlike enough for one of the Kokiri. "Lambo-san's having fun, Tsu-nii. Lambo-san has lots of candy and the other Kokiri like playing games with Lambo-san. And yes, Lambo-san knows what's coming up. Chrome-nee explained; everyone's playing!"

He resisted the urge to facepalm and instead hugged Lambo. "Look after yourself anyway, Lambo-kun. I'll see you a bit later in the game, okay? Remember I will come and rescue you when you get stolen away." His Lightning pouts at him.

"Lambo-san knows. And Chrome-nee said we get to play too, at that point. So Lambo-san has been practising and found you this!" Lambo grins and hands him a red-rupee, and he pockets it gratefully, and heads for the shop, ignoring Navi-Reborn trying to teach him about targetting until he has a shield. He might not know how to use it yet, but he'll figure it out. There's a burning sting and he whines as he turns to his tutor.

"You don't get to ignore me, Dame-Tsuna. And I'm taking the opportunity to beat new skills into your head." He winces and rubs his ear, and concentrates through the lecture on using his Flames to focus on a distant target. He has almost no Sky Flames accessible, but there is a little Cloud there, and he rapidly figures out how to enhance his sight and hearing. "Now get your ass moving. I want to see if you can do that in _combat_."

He ignores the very NPC Kokiri guarding the way to the Deku Tree and squeaks in protest as he barely ducks the first Deku Baba in the corridor, and Reborn-Navi clips his ear _again_. (And that was even more annoying than the 'Hey Listen!' mechanic had been when he was playing the game!) "A good Mafia-Boss takes every opportunity to practise his skills and collect resources Dame-Tsuna."

He sighs and draws his new sword awkwardly, trying to remember how to kill a Deku-Baba. It lunges at him, and he hits it clumsily; it springs upright, and he cuts it's stem quickly and is relieved when that kills it, leaving a stick behind. He could also get something like Hayato's flash-bangs from them - if he remembered correctly - and he tests that on the next one, and is rewarded with some seeds, that are, indeed, the expected substitute for his Storm's flash-bangs.

The third Deku-Baba surprises him, and ow! Okay, they hadn't been kidding about how much harder the Master Quest mode was, but he's a little bit relieved that he has just woken back up in his bed in his tree-house; when Reborn had mentioned Sword Online Art, he'd been more than a little anxious. The residual aches make him far more cautious - despite Reborn-Navi's urgings - and this time he gets past all three Deku Babas by using the flash-bangs and only trying to kill them when they were stunned, allowing him into the area with the Deku tree.

He makes use of the cut-scene to reorder his pockets, noting that they had a Misty effect on them that meant he could draw impossible sized things out of them, and that he got what he 'requested'. (He wondered idly if he could trap Navi-Reborn in one of the bottles he'd get later. He'd managed to defeat Ganondorf with a glass-bottle, _once_ , and it would serve his tutor right to be used for that.) There's also a scrap of Sun Flames when he reaches for his Sky reflexively, and he coaxes it into soothing his muscles because he has some idea of what's coming next. He was going to have to climb, and he was out of practice at doing that without his Flames.

The inside of the Deku Tree is about what he expected, though the creatures aren't quite the ones he'd expected. He faces them cautiously, not wanting to wake up in his bed _again_ , and curses when one of the withered Deku Babas drops him right back into the bleeping health range, and Reborn-Navi bounces around him laughing at him. "I told you that you needed to practise, Dame-Tsuna."

He glares at his tutor, and fishes hearts out of both the bushes. They weird him out a little; they taste like strawberry candy, and he can feel the burst of Sun Flames healing the bite wound. And why had Mukuro decided to make the wounds _realistic_? (Well that was probably his Mist and his tutor's sadism if he was honest with himself, but it also meant he was going to do his damnedest not to get hit again.) He shook his head and climbed up to the next level, ducking the Keese that flew at him; they'd be a lot easier to kill when he found the slingshot. Or at least once he found the slingshot and figured out how to fire it ...


	2. Deku-Tree

... Reborn-Navi clips his ear again, and he drops into a crouch; Master-Quest mode meant that things had shifted around and he knew there were Skulltulas on the wall, but what else was there? The answer was an ominous larval-sac that he recognised from the Boss room for the Deku Tree, and he wasn't ashamed to admit to the squeak that escaped this time.

Fire would be an excellent solution to the wretched thing, but he couldn't call even the weak Cloud and Sun Flames he'd been able to access so far to his hands. Nor would he gain one of the two in-game fire attacks until after he'd completed the Deku Tree, discovered who Mukuro had cast as Zelda, and gotten far enough through Dodongo Cavern to retrieve the bombs.

He shoved the thought that Reborn was using this as a chance to teach him to fight with his Guardian's weapons just in case in a mental box to reflect on later, and reluctantly drew his sword and lunged at the sac. He wasn't quite fast enough to stab it before the infant-gohma hatched, and he whimpered as it tried to attack him, and he got the Deku-shield up just in time to deflect the blow and a second one dropped from the ceiling, and fuck he didn't want to see if they were poisonous!

At least Reborn was choosing to be useful; if he concentrated on his tutor's fairy form, he found it a bit easier to make his blows connect with the fast moving little nuisances, and perhaps his tutor was right about needing to train skill sets other than his Flames. He's panting by the time he finishes the two little menaces off, but uninjured, and how had he lost so much stamina? He remembered the training when before the Ring Battles, and he'd been able to climb cliffs with _ease_! "You've been neglecting your mundane training, Dame-Tsuna. It isn't affecting your Flames _yet_ , but you should consider this an intervention."

He kept the grumble internal as he kicked the chest open; inside was the dungeon map, and he touched it cautiously, wondering how Mukuro had decided to make this work. It vanished, and the map bloomed inside his head, an old memory made sharp enough that he could see it clearly. Not that all the detail was there yet; he'd need the compass for _that_. Now wasn't there normally something hidden in crates? He refuses to headbutt it, though - but if he was careful, he could use the Kokiri sword as a crowbar. It took some effort, and he ended up climbing on it and bouncing on his sword and Takeshi, and Squalo would laugh their heads off at him, but he was successful. (Except for the Gold Skulltula bite. Which fucking _hurt_ , and he was going to set Kyoya on Mukuro for this stunt.)

The vines are surprisingly sturdy; the Skulltulas a pain in his neck. Unfortunately literally. They're not in the same positions that he remembers from the game, and he fails to stop climbing in time. He wakes up in his bed in the village, and okay, how exactly was that being achieved? Was Mukuro actively monitoring the game or was it something else? Also, ow. He'd felt his back break from the fall before everything had been reset. Definitely using a glass-bottle on Navi-Reborn and then wielding said bottle against Ganondorf, because no way was that going to be his last injury.

"Wake-up, Dame-Tsuna!" He throws a Deku-Nut at his tutor, and rolls over, trying to summon the tiny scrap of Sun Flames that he'd been able to use to soothe his sore muscles earlier. It comes a little easier this time, and he hopes it will translate into the real world.

He's a bit more careful with climbing past the skulltulas this time, and is successful in sneaking past them; he remembers about the giant ceiling Skulltula and is more than a little relieved his demon-tutor had made him stock up on items earlier. This would be so much easier if he could just access his Sky Flames! The tiny scraps he's been left with weren't sufficient to manifest externally, and he _hated_ this. It reminded him of being Sealed.

Game physics, on the other hand, were entertaining; he shouldn't be able to make the jump between the platforms that hitting the switch revealed, but he could. And did. He doubts the chest he can see would hold the slingshot - the dungeon map wasn't in the place it had been originally - but if he remembered correctly, there was an alcove to one side. He veered off towards it, placing a mental bet the weapon would be hidden there, only for his ear to be stung by his tutor again. "Not so fast, Dame-Tsuna. The chest won't show itself until you've beaten the enemies in this room."

He groans, and turns back, and makes use of the flash-bang-seeds to speed up dealing with the Gohma Larva and the Deku Baba, earning himself a handful of rupees and a few more of the seeds. There's a tinkling sound as he defeats the last one, and he hits the switch again and climbs back up to the alcove, to be rewarded with a chest like the one he'd found the map in. He cradled the slingshot in his hands when he retrieved it; being able to hit enemies from a distance would make his life a lot easier, though he would have to go and get the upgrade for it as soon as possible.

Preferably before he had to _really_ confront the fact that Lambo was playing Saria, and was going to get kidnapped at some point, and he found out who had been cast as Ruto and Zelda. (He suspected he knew who was playing Darunia. Ryohei was probably having an EXTREME amount of fun rolling around as a Goron, and he fully expected to get viciously hugged by him after he'd completed the Dodongo Caverns.) He leans into his intuition and test-fires the slingshot and hits the target on his first attempt, which was a small mercy. (Even if Mukuro would likely turn up the difficulty level to compensate.)

Firing his slingshot is as simple as looking in the right direction, and he scowls as he realises why. Reborn-Navi just bounces, and he shakes his head and shoots down the ladder. He shoots the giant Skulltulas and the Gohma larval sacs down and ignores Reborn long enough to light the torch and takes the leap of faith off the cliff and swan dives onto the spider-web trampoline and burns through it. (The worst that would happen was that he'd hit and wake up back in the village again. And if he did, he'd make a detour and upgrade his seed pouch before he came back in again.) He tucks himself into a roll and performs a shallow dive to skim under the water at the bottom.

He comes up again with Reborn-Navi bouncing at him angrily but ignores his tutor a bit longer. He's played this game inside out, and while the Master Quest might have rearranged things a bit - there were chests with rupees in place of the major prizes, now - the layout and logic puzzles were still _Legend of Zelda_ puzzles. Just ones that he had to physically manipulate. (Yeah, he'd skipped out on the compass, but he didn't actually need it; he knew where he needed to head to find the Gohma Queen, and if the slingshot was basically going to be look-and-shoot, this was going to be _easy_.)

He took that back. Oh fuck he took that back, and apparently Mukuro giveth, and Mukuro taketh away again, and he was so _doomed_. He didn't remember half that number of Gohma larva dropping on his head when he'd just been playing the game, and he went down screaming as they swarmed him, and ow, they were _poisonous_!

And this was ridiculous. He'd already 'died' three times, and the pain was ramping up each time he died, and his Mist was a sadist he was never permitting near _Reborn_ again, let alone Bykauran! (He made the detour into the Lost Woods this time and picked up the expanded seed pouch. He suspected his best bet was going to be to keep moving and keep shooting from a distance, and the larger bag that would make things simpler; there'd be less running and scooping up of extra ammo).

The need to slog back into the Boss Cavern gives him time to contemplate who was 'driving' the Gohma because it was far more intelligent than the game-version. A Cloudy mook of Xanxus's, he suspected, given the suddenly multiplying larval sacs. Not that it mattered; he might not be able to achieve Dying Will Mode with Mukuro's syphon on his Sky Flames, but he could still use his intuition, which was probably the lesson he was supposed to be learning right now.

He's still panting and aching and so ridiculously sore by the time he plants the Kokiri sword in the Gohma's head. It's like he's been thrown back into that fight with Byakuran and what the hell does Reborn think is coming that this seems like appropriate training to him? Biting into the heart container comes as an instant relief, the warmth of Sun Flames coursing through his system, and he stumbles through the bright light, and back outside to receive the Kokiri Emerald, which he pockets, and then falls asleep during the cut-scene. (Mukuro is at least kind enough to let him wake up from that nap in the bed in his tree-house rather than in the Deku-Tree's clearing.)


	3. Castle Town/Hyrule Castle

At least Mukuro had also allowed him to skip Mido’s confrontation, though he was reasonably sure he was going to pay for that later. (The little Kokiri reminded him of Mochida before the Electric Storm had finished growing up, and he would have been tempted to take his frustrations out on the NPC.) His pockets are decently full of supplies, so rather than heading for the shop, he slips out of the village.

“Were you trying to escape without hugging me, Tsu-nii? You know you’re not allowed to do that!” The fact that they’re in one of Mukuro’s illusion is very apparent when Lambo launches himself at him as they’re much of a size with each other. “Wouldn’t be any fun if we weren’t all of age for the second part of the game, Tsu-nii. I’m looking forward to my rescue.” He squeaks, and his Lightning laughs and hands him the fairy ocarina. “I believe you know what to do with this, right?” He nods mutely. “Good! I’m going to torment the wolfos I found earlier.” His Lightning jumps off the bridge, and he makes a despairing sound and turns to trudge out of the woods.

He’s not really paying attention when Murkowl hooted at him, ad he has to work hard to resist the temptation to shoot the Mist’s avatar with the slingshot; not that he thought it would actually _hurt_ his brat of a Mist, but Mukuro would change the time of day on him and leave him fighting off an entire hoard of Stalos. Reborn-Navi bounces up and down, laughing at him for his surprise, and he waves a fist at his tutor.

“Enjoying yourself yet, Tsunayoshi?” Of _course_ Mukuro was playing the Owl-Guide-Demon.

“If I say yes, will you ramp up the difficulty?” The Owl hooted in obvious amusement.

“It’s matched to your capabilities. And to those of your party, later. Now I’d suggest hurrying up, or you may find yourself not making Castle Town in time for evening curfew, and you’re a bit underpowered for the Stalos wandering around at the moment.” The Owl hooted in amusement again. “And Kyoya is getting _very_ impatient to escape his current role. If you take too long to reach the Castle, you may find yourself bitten to death.” He doesn’t wait for Reborn to chime in - which he’ll have to pay for later - and sets off at a sprint down the path that he knows will lead to the Castle Town.

He doesn’t make it. He’s not surprised; Mukuro was a little shit like that, and he could well believe he’d deliberately shortened the length of the day so he could entertain himself by making him fight Stalos. (Joke was on him; it might be cold, but if he hung out in the moat he could avoid the skeleton warriors.)

... Shit. No, Mukuro had thought of that. Stalos weren’t supposed to be able to chase you into the water. That wasn’t fucking _fair_! Nor was the way that Reborn-Navi bounced up and down in delighted amusement as he shivered and tried to fight them off. He does manage to reach for his Sun Flame scrap he’d found earlier, channelling it into keeping himself warm and granting him a low-level healing ability. It’s the only way he survives the night; he’s still a bedraggled mess when he pulls himself out of the water in the morning. He crawls up the chain; there’s a red rupee up there, and he’ll need it in town for the Hylian Shield. He falls off it once he has it; a kind soldier drags him into the guardroom and lets him sleep off his exhausting night.

He’s still exhausted in the morning and shivering, but he stumbles through the things he can do before retrieving the bomb-bag from Dodongo Cavern. He collapses in the town’s inn once he’s done so; if he’s going to face Kyoya, he refuses to do it dead on his feet. (He has the Cucco egg he needs to get into the Castle in his pocket, and the mask for the Guard. Even if he had had to break in and steal the mask, he didn’t see why he needed to run back. Reborn had actually praised him for that, which confused him.) “Wake up lazy-Dame-Tsuna. Didn’t you hear your Mist Guardian’s warning about your Cloud? You don’t want to find that he’s defected to Xanxus’s side, surely?”

He doubted Kyoya would, but he could see his Cloud deciding to wage war against the Varia single handedly, and he probably had most of the sheikah under his thumb by now. That could be funny to watch, but it would complicate the game significantly. His tutor was still doing the dance of an amused fairy, so he was _very_ wary as he began his careful stalk through the Castle Gardens. He gets caught, stupidly trying to use the path he remembers through the grounds; the soldiers are definitely under his Cloud's sway in some way though, because the bed he's thrown into is deceptively comfortable and he takes the opportunity to meditate quietly in the cell rather than immediately break out through the trapdoor in the ceiling (and it was just like Kyoya to suborn Mukuro's games).

Reborn-Navi harasses him for his inaction, throwing more warnings about Kyoya defecting or doing something else drastic if he didn't hurry up and make his way into the Castle, but he'd thought he'd felt more than just the two scraps of Flames he'd made use of so far. He's right; there are six tiny Flames buried at his core, far deeper than his normally easy to use Sky Flames, and he coaxes them gently to life and spends a whole day nourishing them.

Once he’s done that, he does climb out of the trapdoor in the roof, and he succeeds in slinking past them (while barely suppressing his giggles at the number of them wearing pompadours) and wakes up Talon with the Cucco chick to gain access to the inner Castle. He pulls on his Flames very, very carefully, reaching for the scrap of Mist he’d found in his earlier meditation and hoping for the ability to slip past the Guards in the way he’d previously seen Chrome do with Millefiore in the future-that-wasn’t.

He blinks in disbelief when he makes it into the central courtyard, and oh dear fucking gods how the hell had Mukuro gotten Kyoya to agree to this? He pauses in the archway and eyes his Cloud, resplendent in one of Zelda’s very ornate gowns and fingers clutching as if he wants his tonfas. “He’s very striking like that, isn’t he? I can’t wait for the time skip because right now I feel like a paedophile for being attracted to him.” Dino’s voice comes from behind me, and he jumps. “And I want my own turn at this game once you’re done. Or even the new game; Mukuro had me when he mentioned the horses, and learning to fight on horse-back.”

“Omnivore, I’m going to bite you to death for the Pineapple’s sins, then I’m going to bite the Varia Carnivore to death, and finally I’m going to stake the Pineapple out and _eviscerate_ him. He made me _female_ , and _helpless_.”

"Um. Didn't he tell you about getting to be Sheikh for the second half of the game, Hibari-san? She's pretty powerful and unlike the others, independent. You get to do things like run around fighting monsters to your heart's content."

"Hn." He takes that as a victory because he isn't actively being bitten to death right now. His tutor, on the other hand, has a death wish. Or a being imprisoned in a glass bottle and used to fight Ganon wish. Or both. Because Reborn-Navi was hassling Hibari-san.

"Don't you have something to show Dame-Tsuna, Kyoya?" His Cloud snarls and beats at the dancing fairy light futilely, and he winces. That was only going to increase Hibari-san's rage.

"I know Xanxus is playing Ganondorf and what's coming, Reborn. I think we'd be better served if we didn't peek through the window." He also needed the distraction from the mental image in his head - of a slightly older Zelda-Kyoya marrying Ganon-Xanxus and their wedding night devolved into a world-levelling sparring match - and he wanted Kyoya to realise he was still combat capable. (Because that earlier comment explained far too much about his Cloud, and forcing Hibari-san to learn that lesson was just like his tutor.)

His Cloud perks up at that, and there's a set of make-shift tonfas sliding into his hands and Dino face-palms and makes a gesture of defeat. "I tried to teach him to use her rapier, but no, he had to make himself a set of tonfas and do it the hard way. When you're done playing with Kyoya, little brother, I have a tune to teach you for that Ocarina of yours, and then I'll help get you back out of the castle."

He's already better with the short Kokiri sword than he'd expected to be, though Kyoya has given him an advantage - his Cloud is uncomfortable in his corseted dress, and wielding make-shift versions of his weapons - and snarls when he manages to break one of the tonfas, and slice into his skin. It earns him a narrowed glare, and he sighs and sheaths his sword. "The Gorons have three blacksmiths, Hibari-san. One of them should be able to forge you a set of tonfas if you talk to them. But you will need to learn to use the Rapier; it's like the Vongola Rings."

His Cloud makes an annoyed sound and stomps back across to the other side of the garden, and he turns back to his big brother, who hugs him. "Don't worry about it, Tsuna. I'll keep working on him." He's amused when they just wander back out of the Castle, discussing the nature of the game, and Dino reminds him of the tune that he'll need later. And slips him a glass bottle with a fairy in it which makes him wonder whether Dino had had a similar idea about a potential use for their 'esteemed' tutor.


	4. Saria's Song

At least he can get to Kakariko village without having to fight the Stalos again. He makes a beeline straight through the village for the graveyard though, despite the fact he fucking hates reDead, but he wants the Song of the Sun, damnit! Especially if Mukuro was going to keep turning up the difficulty on the Stalos, and shortening the day-night transition on Hyrule Field. (Not that would stop his Mist, but he could at least choose the end of his fights with any Stalos this way.)

He finds what he's looking for in the back of the graveyard, and swears as he remembers he has to fight the two composer ghosts without the benefit of the bow-and-arrows, and Reborn-Navi is laughing at him _again_. He just _barely_ scrapes through that battle - his frantic grasping for the scraps of Flames he'd found and nurtured before meeting Zelda-Kyoya earlier has the Kokiri blade coated in Storm Flames - and has to resist the temptation to take another nap or play the Cucco game instead of dealing with this quest. Had he mentioned he _hated_ reDead?

"Yes, yes you had, Dame-Tsuna." And apparently out loud, too.

"Did you actually play through the game, Reborn, or did you just grab the most amusing looking cartridge from my 3DS collection? Argh!" He throws his hands up in the air. "They're like Daisy, only _worse_. The damn things don't die, and if I get too close to them, they'll play vampire, to boot!"

"Tsch. You're being overdramatic, Dame-Tsuna." He facepalms. Resident Evil. Or Castlevania. Even if he did have to pay Mammon to set up the game. He wanted to see how his tutor dealt with zombies and vampires with minimal ammunition and none of his primary Flame accessible to him!

He plays 'Kyoya's' lullaby (even if he is giggling mentally), and dives sideways to avoid the shattering gravestone. When he surfaces from behind the crate in question, Reborn-Navi is looking a little frazzled, and he suspects a sliver of the lightning hit him on the way down. He drops down into the tomb before his tutor could say anything, and pulled as much of the scrap of Sun Flame he'd found to the surface as possible to defend himself against the cold. (He was not looking forward to the sequence needed to enter the Water Temple.)

The Keese are easy to deal with, courtesy of the slingshot, and he swallows as he opens the next door. Dear gods, he _hated_ the reDead, and there were twice as many as there had been before, which meant he couldn't sneak past them. He stabs the first two in the back with a Storm Flame covered blade, and _shit_ , they were actually Sun Flame zombies and were regenerating as quickly as Daisy had in the future-that-wasn't, and he was going to _kill_ Mukuro. The third one manages to catch him, and he curses for the entire length of its _very_ painful attack; he's only saved by the bottled fairy his older brother slipped him, and he runs for the exit while it revives him.

Reborn-Navi rejoins him in the final room, and he relearns the song. (He knew it, but when he tried to play it earlier, it hadn't worked; he assumed that the songs were a cantrip, and this sequence was imprinting them on the ocarina. His guess is confirmed when he registers it's pulling at the Mist Flame scrap.) "You weren't kidding about this being a training exercise, as well as entertainment were you, Reborn?" His tutor merely bounces in that ridiculous way that was a fairy laugh, and he grumbles and returns to the reDead room, and takes great delight in stunning and stabbing them all. They wouldn't die, but this was a second best, and he climbed back out of the grave again. He snaffled the heart-quarter hidden under one of the other stones and trekked back towards the village; he ignores Reborn-Navi's plea for attention and crashes in the hay left out for the Cuccos. He needs some more sleep.

First, though, he pulls out the three golden Skulltula tokens he'd found so far and _concentrated_ as hard as he could on the Cloud Flames he had, and the need to survive that fighting Byakuran had taught him. He giggled when he managed to multiple the token ten-fold. (He also collapsed in exhaustion, but that was why he was already under a blanket and on a pile of hay.)

He has to gather up the tokens when he wakes up, stiff as anything, and quietly slips into the cursed house; he wants the wallets and the shard of agony. He gets all three - and curses Mukuro out volubly when the shard stabs into his non-dominant hand - and then sets to hunting down the Cuccos for his second glass bottle.

Once he's found them, he leaves the village and heads up the mountain towards the Dodongo Cavern and the Goron City; he'll fill both bottles with fairies when he takes the short-cut back to the Lost Woods. (He'd pick up Epona's Song later after he'd had a Darunia-Ryohei hug.)

He makes the mask swap, and tunes out the Guard's lecture in favour of checking he has the right shield and gets hit by one of the Red Tektites and one of the boulders on the way up Death Mountain, but he's still conscious - if very bruised - when he reaches the top. There are hearts hidden under the rocks, and he eats them _very_ grateful, eager for the pain and the bleeping to go away _now_. (Not that it helps much with his headache because the moment the pain and bruising fades Reborn-Navi decides 'he' wants his attention. He ignores him.)

And damnit, he hasn't got the Goron bracelet yet. Which means he needs to find a torch to get through the short-cut to the Lost Woods; or - well, this was either going to work, or go very, very poorly - he could try using Sun Flames to 'Activate' the Bomb Flowers fuses. Which would be useful later on, especially if he could figure out how to do it at range. When he tries it, Reborn-Navi shrieks at him, and he realises all too late that he wasn't far enough out of range.

He wakes up in his bed in the Kokiri village, with his tutor _laughing_ at him. Everything _hurts_ , and he promised himself he was going to actually listen to Hayato's next lecture on how to handle unstable explosives. (Thinking of which, if everyone was playing, what role had Mukuro landed Hayato with? And what had Mukuro meant when he said 'and to those of your party, later' anyway? This wasn't one of the cooperative games in the series!) His Sun Flames were exhausted, which wasn't fair, and he allowed himself a few moments to sulk at that, and at the pain. There was that scrap of Rain Flames though, and he allowed himself to reach, cautiously for it. They probably weren't recommended for the application he was about to try, but anything was worth a try if it just stopped _hurting_!

He peels himself out of the bed when everything stops hurting and manages to fall out of the tree-house. Fortunately, the scrap of Lightning Flames answers him as he falls, and he bounces on landing because breaking his neck again would suck. Maybe the Rain Flames to numb things _hadn't_ been the best idea he'd ever had? He shakes his head and stumbles through the village, ignoring the Kokiri NPCs in favour of the Lost Woods, and getting another Lambo hug; he was already feeling the absence of his Guardians. He'd gotten used to their presence since Reborn had first invaded his life, and them being missing _hurt_.

He laughed out loud when he heard what Lambo was playing 'Saria's' song on. He had no idea how he was making a set of saucepans sound tuneful, but he was. The Wolfos and the Deku-Scrubs were all unconscious, and he had to surrender to a fit of the giggles; Mukuro had claimed that the difficulty would be modified for his Guardians but from the looks of things he'd forgotten how lethal Lambo was capable of being when he wanted to be.

"Tsu-nii!" Lambo gave him a look that he didn't understand, and he scrubbed his eyes, and wobbled, collapsing forward. "You're still human, Tsu-nii. You keep forgetting that, don't you?" He should try and answer his Lightning, who was suddenly acting like his ten-year-later version, but he was too tired. He allows himself to pass out and comes back round in the fairy cave he'd been planning to visit anyway. An apple was thrust into his hands. "Lambo-san knows that eating and sleeping isn't a mechanic in this game like it is in the new one, Tsu-nii, but you're actively using the scraps of Flames Mukuro didn't need to make the game, and they need _something_ to fuel themselves on." His Lightning glares at him until he dutifully bites into the apple. The two of them had re-defined the role that his youngest Guardian was expected to fill after the future-that-wasn't mess and if Lambo spoke up he _listened_. "Give Lambo-san those two empty bottles to fill while you finish that apple, Tsu-nii, and once it's done Lambo-san will teach you Lambo-san's song, and give you the present Lambo-san made." His Lightning grinned and wriggled his fingers. "You're not the only one learning new skills in here!"

He smiles as his incorrigible youngest Guardian darts around the room chasing the fairies, and okay, he felt a lot better after the apple. Like he could think properly again. "How did you know I needed to eat, Lambo-kun?"

"Chrome-nee smacked Mukuro and called him names for forgetting how stubborn you could be, Tsu-nii. She made him let her enter the game, and she told me." His Lightning bounced back over with both bottles stoppered. "You have to go and give her a hug after you've hugged Oniisan, and she'll help you figure out how to use 'her' Fire." Rather than take the bottles from his Lightning, he pulls him into a hug, and Lambo burrows into it. "Tsu-nii has to look after himself. And Stupid Reborn is supposed to help Tsu-nii, not just laugh at him!" His tutor lunges at his Lightning, but Lambo had his own bottle and had obviously been practising because he manages to catch the darting light. "Lambo-san will pay for that later, but Lambo-san couldn't resist." Three bottles are tucked into the pocket for them in his tunic. "Now. Promise Lambo-san you'll eat something every day, at least, nii-san? Lambo-san made you a food pouch and filled it with all sorts of nice things. Kyoko-nee and Haru-nee even sent recipes to Lambo-san for it!"

"I promise, Lambo. As long as you promise not to do anything silly when we reach the second part of the game, -" His Lightning nods solemnly, and he pretends not to notice the crossed fingers (Lambo might even manage to hurt phantom-Ganon; it depends on whether Mukuro remembered to account for his Guardians' Flames and innate abilities) "- I will eat and sleep _every_ day."

"Lambo-san will hold you to that.” (He pretends not to notice the mumbled "Lambo-san will make Stupid Pineapple's life a misery," as he climbs out of the grotto.)


	5. Goron City and Dodongo Cavern 1/2

Reborn-Navi is vibrating, insistently in the bottle Lambo trapped him in but he ignores it in favour of wandering back through the Lost Woods (grateful for the fact that Mukuro hadn't made an appearance as the damned Owl, despite the fact that should have happened earlier), and picking up another quarter of heart and a few more rupees. Fortunately, his stupid stunt in the Goron City with his Sun Flames had, in fact, opened the short-cut between the two locations up, so he could use that rather than have to run across the Field and be ambushed by Stalos.

He drops down through the City, narrowly avoiding the little Goron rolling around one of the levels. He'd be simpler to stop once he had the bombchus, and he would come back for him because he was curious as to whether Goron-Link was an NPC or one of his friends. (He could see Mukuro having decided to stick Hayato with the role if he was honest; his Mist seemed to be in full-blown troll-mode.) He plays the two tunes necessary to access Darunia-Ryohei's chamber and gets himself comprehensively hugged by his ebullient Sun, and it's the best feeling. "Little brother! Pineapple-head gave me a whole 'script for how this conversation was supposed to go, but I've forgotten it. But Chrome said it EXTREMELY didn't matter as you know the games, so tell me about your adventure so far! And where _is_ Reborn-san?"

The two of them sit down, him leaning against his Sun and enjoying the warmth Darunia-Ryohei radiates at him. (Despite his Sun's training with Colonello, he still lived in his Flames for the majority of the time, and he gloried in the muscle-ache-easing warmth.) He babbles at his older brother and nibbles on one of the cakes that are pressed on him by Darunia-Ryohei. (It looks like a rock-cake, but it's delightfully light and chocolatey.) His Sun slips the Goron bracelet onto his wrist and pushes some of his Flames into it. "Test that out on one of the bomb-flowers, little brother." He does and notes the way that it makes everything feel significantly lighter than it had been (including his sword). "Go have fun in the Cavern, Tsuna. Belphegor's playing the Boss this time."

He winces, and his Sun laughs. "Is he at least going to be the Giant Dodongo, Oniisan?"

"He'll be vulnerable to bombs." That wasn't reassuring. "You'll be alright little brother. Reborn made the Varia sign a contract before he let them join in the fun."

(Still not comforting.)

He climbs back up out of Goron City (collecting a heart-quarter and a gold Skulltula token as he goes); anything else will need to wait for him to acquire the bomb bag and for his return as an adult.

He nibbles on an apple as he calculates the correct angle to throw the Bomb-Flower to open up the Cavern (and wishes for Hayato; he hates geometry, and his Storm could do it in his head). He screws up his first attempt and has to wait for the Bomb Flowers to regenerate. It takes a hell of a lot longer than it did when he was on the other side of the screen and was Mukuro really going to punish him for failing that exam? It felt like he was!

He's successful with his second flower, and then cackles and drops onto the roof of the entrance to the Caverns to filch the last quarter-heart he needs to boost his stamina further.

When he finishes eating the quarter, it feels a lot like the time he accidentally drank one of Reborn's triple Espressos. He bounces on his toes and resists the temptation to backflip off the ledge he's on, choosing instead to drop down cautiously.

And this was so a 'temple' more suited to his Storm. (Hayato's personal philosophy could be encapsulated in the statement: "There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives.") There were just so many things that could explode, and so many things vulnerable to _being_ exploded that he found himself channelling his Right-Hand and trying to make everything possible go 'boom'. His tally by the time he leaves the main room includes three Beamos (there was an accident that meant the first regenerated) and a number of walls, one of which had revealed the Dungeon Map, and he was resigned to the changes the Master Quest had made to the Caverns. He was now heading in what felt like _completely_ the wrong direction; only it wasn't. And he'd forgotten about the hoard of fucking baby Dodongos and _shit_. He'd _also_ forgotten they exploded when you stabbed them like freaking swamp-dragons.

He dies three times in quick succession thanks to the fairies, and the way the baby Dodongo swarm him. It reminds him of how he met his Storm, and not having Hayato and Takeshi at his back - he hoped what Mukuro had said actually meant that his Guardians would get to join in, rather than just hide out in the Sacred Realm - felt all sorts of wrong. (He doesn't get out of bed immediately; with Reborn still bottled, he's going to sleep a bit more. He _needs_ it, thank you very much.)

He wakes up again with Lambo curled up next to him, and that helps with the ache. And it's amusing to realise he's the same 'size' as his Lightning given Mukuro's mischievous streak.

"Tsu-nii looked like he'd gone four rounds with a PMS-ing Baka-Dera when Lambo-san found him. Lambo-san's bottled some more fairies, and Tsu-nii will be more careful this time, or Lambo-san will have to come with Tsu-nii to help."

"I don't think you can leave the Forest yet, Lambo-kun." His Lightning giggles and he twitches as he gets a static shock from his youngest Guardian's Flames.

"Lambo-san found the short-cuts, so Lambo-san decided that Lambo-san needed to see what the others were doing. Tsu-nii is going to laugh so hard when he sees Baka-Dera and Take-nii." He buries his face in Lambo's curls and tries to suppress his giggles.

"Lambo-kun, are you telling me Takeshi is playing Ruto?" His Lightning nods, and he fails in his attempt to not laugh. "In all 'her' shameless glory?" The nodding only gets more vigorous.

"Baka-Dera is even funnier, Tsu-nii. But Lambo-san won't spoil _that_ surprise. And Take-nii's still got other surprises for Tsu-nii. But they're for _later_." Lambo squirms out of his arms and then stands up, straightening his tunic. "We'll eat, and then Tsu-nii should make another attempt at the Dodongo Cavern, and this time, he has to remember that the stupid lizard things explode like an annoyed Baka-Dera."

He makes it all the way through to the room with the Lizalfos this time, and squeaks as he realises that Belphegor's not just playing the _Boss_. They were too fast, too skilful, too human and far too insane not to be being 'guided' by the Storm Officer, especially given the knives they were throwing. (Lizalfos weren't supposed to throw knives!) He finally resorts to overpowering the Deku-Nuts with the scrap of Cloud Flames and darting into stab the Lizalfos with a Storm-Flame coated blade, and it's just as well he's got two fairies in his pockets because he makes a rather unfortunate contact with the lava.

 


	6. Dodongo Cavern 2/2

He soothes his burned flesh, and checks the pots in the room for hearts (the burn throbs, insistently, and he indulges in a new hobby: cursing out Mukuro while he searches) and bites into one gratefully. He has to find a second before the burn vanishes entirely, and he heads for the next room with a degree of cautiousness; he had the feeling it had a trap in it.

Not a trap, but another set of new enemies, and he surprises himself by back-flipping out of the way of the Dodongo's fire-breath. They aren't nearly as bad as the Lizalfos, more annoying than anything else, and he tries something he never thought of trying when he played the game: shooting them with his slingshot. It's remarkably successful, but the door doesn't open, and he stalks around the room looking for the reason why.

He facepalms when the solution finally registers. He'd barely noticed the unlit torches, which was ridiculous given how often a puzzle involved them. Apparently, Mukuro had registered his attempts to use his Flames, because the one that _should_ have alight, _wasn't_ , and he snarled and lit that one - it left him exhausted, and without his scrap of Sun to lean into, as it was the only one he could think of how to use for an actual fire, and even after how he'd been using it, it was barely large enough to manifest - and then the others using a Deku Stick.

(There is, fortunately, a few pots in the room, and biting into a heart leaves him feeling more Hylian; and he really wants to talk to Chrome about the modifications to the game Mukuro had made.)

The door opens into the main room and a switch; he bounces on that and then decides how to get down - in the end, he reaches for the tiny fragment of Lightning Flames he possesses and hopes; it works, and nothing breaks - and runs across to the door that had opened. It was the giant-step-room, and he squints at the frangible wall; it had contained a Deku-Bush before, but he suspected it had something else behind it, now.

He's right, and he curses when he realises what it is. (And precisely who it felt like, and damnit Mukuro this wasn't _fair_!) He has maybe half-a-heart, and no fairies left when he finally manages to get the Compass from the chest; Squalo was fucking fast and cruel, even when he was 'possessing' a statue, and everything _hurt_. Absolutely _everything_ , and if the Rain was going to take control of _every_ one of those statues he was going to die. A lot.

Once he's found a couple of hearts to eat and set off the chain of bomb-flowers - exposing the stairs - and climbed up, he walks into the next room without thinking and curses everyone involved in this godsforsaken adventure out when he sees _four_ Armos around the bottom of the platform. Luckily, splitting one's attention between multiple 'bodies' didn't seem to be a skill the Varia had mastered yet (and he wasn't looking forward to them figuring it out because that was going to be miserable) and he manages to circle round the three 'living' Armos to stab each one. He has one hell of a headache, and his _whole_ body is one huge bruise when they all detonate, and he hates his life right now.

There aren't any hearts in the room, and he can't think of anything other than the pain and the throbbing headache and he slumps in one corner to reach for the tiny fragment of Sun Flames that he's been exercising and is growing ever so painfully slowly and pulls it up, and to the surface and then sets to nibbling some of the food Lambo had pushed on him earlier. By the time he's eaten that, his headache, at least, has faded even if he does feel like a single giant bruise.

He slips through the next door, and barely ducks the attack of the two Fire-Keese; he makes a dash, every muscle cursing his existence as he does so, and leaps the gap in the bridge - trying not to think about just how much failing would hurt before he woke up in the Kokiri village - and only just stops his headlong dash shy of the blade trap. He sighs and releases Reborn-Navi from his bottle; he needs the warning/reminders for this stretch, and now that Lambo had proven that one _could_ bottle his tutor, he had recourse if Reborn-Navi was annoying.

He could hug the Heart he finds behind the block he needs to climb (especially as Reborn _deliberately_ lets him take the hit from one of the blade traps, and the headache had returned). He scrambles up onto the block a lot more fluidly with his bruises gone and manages to throw the Bomb-Flower accurately on his first attempt. (Was that what Takeshi had meant when he said that he needed to stop overthinking things? He'd just thrown it and it had landed right.)

The next room is relatively simple; there's an eye-switch, and he shoots it and is nearly swarmed by the Baby Dodongos on the other side of it. He has the Hylian Shield handy, though and he ducks under it. He stabs at them from under it, playing moray eel and was thoroughly amused by the fact that the Shield deflected even the bomb blasts of their deaths (he takes time to feel the structure of the Shield, and isn't surprised to find that it's actually a cohesive Lightning construct) and then steps into the next room only to find a Lizalfos. He squeaks and darts sideways, and dies spectacularly on the blades of the second one he'd forgotten about, waking up in the Kokiri Village to another Lambo hug.

"Chrome-nee told Lambo-san that Take-nii's senpai and the Evil Prince had decided to play with Tsu-nii, so Lambo-san wasn't surprised to find Tsu-nii in his bed this morning. Lambo-san had refilled Tsu-nii's bottles with fairies and his pouch with food to let him sleep a bit longer." He hugs his Lightning tight and then eases himself out of bed. "Lambo-san didn't re-bottle Reborn-Navi despite Reborn-Navi trying to provoke Lambo-san."

"Thank you, Lambo-kun." His Lightning follows him all the way to the short-cut back to the Goron City and pouts when he insists that he stay in the Lost Woods.

"But Lambo-san can _help_!"

He ends up using a Pokemon analogy (and hopefully his tutor doesn't take that as an idea; though he was already contemplating whether his Guardians would end up being Pokemon or Gym Leaders) to explain why Lambo following him into the Dodongo Cavern would be a _bad_ idea. (The Kokiri were tree spirits. The Dodongo Cavern was a fire realm. He didn't want to discover what would happen if one of the Fire Keese brushed up against his youngest Guardian's avatar.)

His Lightning still grumbles about being left behind but stays put, and he slips through the Dodongo Caverns, and heads straight up the Bomb-Flower stairs, past the dormant Armos, glad he doesn't have to fight them again and then straight over the bridge and through the trap rooms. This time he remembers to pause long enough to slingshot the baby Dodongos to kill them.

The Lizalfos are just as irritating as the first trio, and he finally tricks one of them into jumping into the abyss (otherwise known as the lava in the room below) and uses a Deku-Nut to stun the other one and stab it. It takes three attempts, and he needs the Hearts in the chamber to heal the cuts from the battle.

He's so annoyed that he douses the fire-trap in the next room with his Rain Flames; he insistently regrets it when the headache of low-health returns, and he reluctantly unbottles one of the fairies - there's another one he can collect before the Boss room - and allows it to heal him.

He crosses the platforms in the next room and cackles insanely at the contents of the big chest he opens. Hayato would _adore_ this weapon; as he would the Bombchus, he would complete the mini-games for _after_ he'd faced the dungeon's Boss. The exit for the room leads to the bridge over the Dodongo Skull, and he drops bombs into both eyes. (There's a whole serpentine corridor he should complete to get into the chamber, but he skips it by using his Sun Flames to Activate the Switch. He suspects it'll only work _once_ unless Mukuro wants to make him use it for puzzles later on, but he as out of fucks to give considering the Lizalfos and the Armos.)

A bomb makes the necessary hole in the floor, and then he opens the chest to replenish his supply of them, and captures the fairy in the other room, just in case. He's not looking forward to seeing whether Xanxus's Storm is actually controlling the Giant Dodongo and what - if any - modifications to him Mukuro has allowed. (Like the sheer number of Gohma Larva he'd had to deal when the Cloud mook had been 'driving' the Gohma Queen.)

And oh shit, that was beyond unfair! That tactic _worked_ in 'canon' - and that had been the Hylian Shield he was hiding behind, not the fucking Deku-Shield for love of Kami! Since when had the Giant Dodongo's breath been able to eat through _metal_? And what was the fucking wires that he was having to dodge over and under and through, and was Belphegor _laughing_ at him? Reborn-Navi certainly was, and he was going to have to get his revenge. (Maybe he would suggest an Alliance-wide Pokemon game. Skies as the trainers and their Guardians as their Pokemon? He'd even take the apparent disadvantage of Hayato-as-an-Eevee as his starter just to fuck with people's heads.)

A Deku-Nut produces enough smoke and flash for him to spot the wires ahead of him, and he yanks up a Bomb-flower and throws it in Belphegor's direction. Not with any intent to injure, not yet, but to distract and give himself time to think, but he actually catches him as he's about to take a breath, and the result is a stunned Giant Dodongo, and he dives through the wires to stab the Boss as many times as possible. Not enough to kill Belphegor's avatar, unluckily, and he misjudges his escape due to the wires. (Resulting in what, without a fairy, would have been an ignoble death that would have meant he had to make the trek back from the Kokiri village. Again.)

He does manage to kill Giant Dodongo-Belphegor, though not without a second fairy-dodged death and a great deal of swearing (the wires turned out to conduct the Storm Flame-breath and discovering that had been highly painful and resulted in him fighting wearing not much more than his leggings, belt and sword sheath). Darunia-Ryohei laughs and hugs him when he materialises outside the Cavern, and there went his third bottled fairy, and it was just like his oniisan to forget his own strength. (And feeling all his ribs crack in the process _hurts_ like _hell_.)

Lambo-Saria is waiting for him in Darunia-Ryohei's quarters in the City, and the two of them hug him again, a little more gently this time and reprovision him with food and hugs, and tease him about his deaths in the Caverns.

Ryohei also sneaks him through a short-cut to see Chrome - because that was definitely Chrome feeling highly mischevious as a Great Fairy at the top of the mountain - and he's glad to have both the extra sword-techniques implanted in his head (thank you Takeshi, for being willing to share Shigure Soen Ryuu) and to be able to refill his Fairy bottles before having to deal with Mukurowl laughing at him, even if the price Chrome demands of him is a hug, and she was feeling _very_ cryptic.


	7. Zora's Domain

"Ryohei-san, didn't you forget to give something to Bossu?" Watching Darunia's face shift into Ryohei's classic 'oh shit I forgot something' frown was probably more amusing than he'd expected it to be, and Chrome laughs gently. "Bossu needs that Gem Mukuro-sama gave you, Ryohei-san. You can't 'play' with him later if he doesn't have it for the Temple of Light."

"Oh, right." He's not entirely sure he wants to know exactly where Ryohei's been storing the Goron Ruby. "Here you go, little brother. Make sure you come back and see me as soon as possible." Ryohei's exaggerated wink confuses him, and apparently, Mukuro had some sort of plan for later? One that he hadn't shared with him?

"Don't worry about it _too_ much, Bossu. Mukuro-sama thinks you'll like what happens once you rescue someone. Speaking of which, Mukurowl is waiting for you outside, to take you back down to the village. He promised me he'd explain a little bit while you fly with him. If he _doesn't_ , come and talk to me in the Castle grounds and _I'll_ explain." She giggles, and he adores how much more confident she is, now.

Mukurowl is indeed waiting for him, and the soaring flight down to the village is terrifying (he prefers flying under his own power) and silent, and he wonders what Chrome will do or say when she hears _that_.

(He bottles Reborn before he goes any further. Mostly because he needs to concentrate, and his tutor was abusing the attention-getting techniques he had as Navi.)

First the two heart-quarters (he drops off the roof for one, and crawls into say hi to the cow for the other), and then back to Castle Town to get the various expanded bags and the Bombchus and Din's Fire. (He laughs hysterically when he finds Ken running the Bomb-chu bowling alley, and Chikusa running the Shooting Gallery; especially as both of them are sarcastic when he wanders in, and he's apparently interrupting their fun. He does walk out with the items he was after, though he wonders if that was more to get him to gtfo rather than because he'd _actually_ won; it left him wondering who was running the fishing game.) Chrome sighs when he walks into the Grotto in the Castle Grounds.

"He decided to be mysterious didn't he, Bossu?" He nods, and sits himself down, removing his boots so he could stick his feet in the pool to soak, and pulls two pieces of cake out of the pouch Lambo had given him. "The Flame Training turned out to be a useful side-effect of what Mukuro-sama did to fuel the game. If you've got a _very_ strong Primary, like you have, Bossu, then the other Flames are sort of buried beneath them? So because you can't reach your Sky Flames - they're 'running' this world - but you know _how_ to reach your Flames, you're able to work on the others. Or at least that's the best non-technical explanation I could come up with. Mukuro-sama worked the training into the game more, so that you wouldn't break it too much. The Sword techniques include Rain Flame control if you practise them. The Fire Spell I'm about to teach you is a Storm Flame technique. Haru has some Mist Techniques for you - Mukuro-sama and I both use blunt force, as we're both strong enough to _force_ the changes, and that wouldn't work for you - and Kyoko has Sun and Lightning because she didn't think Oniisan would remember to teach it to you."

He blinks and files that explanation away to ponder later. It felt like it was _mostly_ accurate? But there were nuances that Chrome didn't have quite right. "Thank you Chrome-chan."

"No problem, Bossu." But she was blushing and giggling, and he wondered if that was linked to their earlier conversation? Shaking his head, he pulls his boots back on, and then wanders out of the Grotto nibbling on an apple, before running face first into Impa-Dino's chest.

"Having fun, Tsuna?" He wraps his arms around his big brother's waist and hugs him, bathing in Dino's Sky Flames. "And where's Reborn?"

"Bottled him for being annoying." He mumbles the words, slightly drunk on Dino's Flames, and his big-brother-and-ally laughs.

"Merciful Mary that's going to be a mess when we leave the game." His hair is ruffled gently, and he wants to purr at the touch. "Kyoya's tried to bite Xanxus three times since he arrived, and Xanxus has tried to tempt him into joining the dark side twice, I think. I'm not sure if Xanxus means within the game, or he's trying to poach Kyoya in real life."

"Ritual offer. Kyoya won't accept until Xanxus can beat both me and him, Dino-nii."

"Ah. Good to know." He looked up at his older brother's feminised face, which had a blush on his cheeks. "Um. I promise _I'm_ not trying to poach Kyoya either, sweetheart." He can't help but giggle.

"Don't worry. Kyoya already had that discussion with me about your role in his life. He said you were his Herbivore and he was keeping you, and I don't need to know any more than that." Dino's cheeks got even redder. "And uh, Dino-nii? Kyoya was _very_ precocious." He barely manages to get his Deku-Shield up to defend against the tonfa blow. It was lucky he was leaning into his intuition in the absence of his Sky Flames. (They definitely contributed to his intuition's potency, but it was still _there_ and still functioning.)

"I want another fight, Omnivore. The Pineapple-herbivore said you've learned new skills." Dino flips back out of the way, heading to distract the Hylian Guards, and he grins and tests out Din's Fire.

"Wao." It threw Kyoya back several feet, but apparently, his Cloud had been learning his own new techniques, as he was saved from any damage by something that looked suspiciously like Nayru's Love bursting into existence and then flickering out. "Not bad, Omnivore." He sighs and launches into a spin attack - hardening his blade the same way he'd strengthened his bones earlier to avoid fall damage - and nearly overwhelms his Cloud. "But the Varia Carnivore is more fun at the moment. Even if he won't show off his strongest attacks because of his 'Contract'." He shakes his head and switches tactics, and he and Kyoya spar until Dino steps in, picking Kyoya up by the back of his belt, and using his Sky Flames to calm him down.

"You've had your fight, Kyoya. You have more Mist Flame techniques to learn if you want to be allowed out to 'play' in the second half of the game. There are some enemies you can't just bite-to-death out there." When Kyoya-Zelda tries to bite Dino-Impa instead, his big brother encases his Cloud in his own version of Nayru's Love. "Takeshi's waiting up in the Zoras' realm, but you should go retrieve the other bottle and Epona's Song from the Ranch before you forget, little brother. I'll see you later when we make our grand escape." Dino-Impa tosses him a green potion in yet another bottle, and he drinks it gratefully as the older Sky walks back up towards the castle with Kyoya still encased in Nayru's Love. It looked disturbingly like zero-point ice when used like that, but hadn't Chrome implied that it was a Sun-Lightning fuelled spell? At least he _assumed_ that it was the one Kyoko would teach him, as Farore's Wind made more sense as a Mist application.

Thinking about that had him half-way to the Ranch before he realised; he mostly 'wakes up' because a Stalos stabs him in the side, and he cursed and did a spin attack to drive it off, before reaching for his Ocarina and playing the Song of the Sun. (And that effect was really creepy when subjected to it; did it speed up time for everyone, or just for him? Or did it cast a spell on the Sun, and was it a literally on-off switch as if the Sun was a light bulb?)

Still speculating (and sort of wanting Shoichi there to do an experiment), he wanders into the Lon-Lon Ranch and sweet talks Epona's Song out of Malon, and makes friends with the little foal (and with some of the others, just in case; if Mukuro had been serious about the others joining him on his adventure, they'd need steeds too) courtesy of a couple of carrots before playing the second of the Cucco games for another Glass Bottle (which would leave him with five, but he wasn't complaining; he certainly seemed to have space, and it was a relatively benign bending of the game mechanics next to the havoc that Flames could cause, potentially).

He plays the Song of the Sun again just as the Stalos rise on his way back across to the Zora realm, and then works his way up the river, stopping off to buy magic beans (he can't buy _all_ of them, but he has enough of them for the important soil patches), and ignoring the various side quests in favour of reaching the Zora Kingdom (and managing not to get swept downstream; he wanted the silver scale _badly_ ). He runs all the way up through the Kingdom, trying not to blush at the naked bodies he was seeing (yes, yes, he ran around in boxers sometimes, and his top had been burnt off earlier - Lambo had brought him a replacement - but they were completely nude, and he couldn't help twitching at that) or stare as he tried to work out how their biology _worked_. (He suspected that he had impressed on the adult version of Ruto at some point if he was honest with himself.)

Diving off the waterfall to play the game for the silver scale is almost a relief; he'd run straight past the Zora King, but his mind had still registered the 'cameo' and Kami save him, Lambo had told him that Takeshi was playing Ruto, but he hadn't quite believed him until he'd seen Tsuyoshi - or at least his _semblance_ \- as the King. (Which actually sort of made sense; he'd had Shigure Soen Ryuu implanted in his head by the game, and Takeshi would have insisted on asking Tsuyoshi's permission _first_.) That puzzle got him through the silver scale mini-game, but it did mean that he blushed _profusely_ when he got up to where Tsuyoshi was lounging again, especially as he now had the mental image of naked adult Ruto-Takeshi in his head, and if his _body_ had been far enough into puberty, that arousal would have been _very_ obvious.

He bowed to his Rain's father, and Tsuyoshi laughs. "Yes, my silly boy has _thoroughly_ embraced being a Zora. I believe you know the price for passage through into the fountain? His note, and a sushi-grade fish. Perhaps one of the larger ones from the fishing pond?" He nods, still blushing. "Now, shoo; I believe you have a reward to retrieve."

The Zora at the top of the waterfall hands him his prize with their own grin. "It's good to hear the Lord laugh, young hero. I believe what he requested can be found through the passageway at the bottom of the waterfall." The cool scale sinks into his skin, and the sides of his neck sting briefly. "Enjoy." The maybe-not-a-NPC scatters more rupees into the water, and he follows them over the edge of the waterfall, catching up two red rupees and then diving deeper to get through the gateway to Lake Hylia.

The bottle with the note is easy enough to grab; the fish slightly more complicated as one wasn't supposed to keep the fish from the pond, but he was getting better at the Misty stealth trick, and he sneaks past the pond's keeper. (Weirdly, actually an NPC; he'd been sure someone would play the role.) Sneaking up on the fish is far trickier, and he ends up cheating using his scrap of Rain Flames to stun one of the larger fish into compliance so he could swipe it up in a bottle. (He uses the extra one that Dino had slipped him, but resolved to refill it with green potion as soon as possible.)

Returning to the Zora realm is simple enough; he just has to dive back through the passageway, and he remembers just before he leaves the water than he needs a regular fish _too_ so he can get Jabu-Jabu to let him chase after Ruto. In the end, he allows Reborn-Navi back out of his bottle; he may need his tutor's help in the Fish-God's belly, and it does mean he can save himself a little effort. "I am going to get my revenge, Dame-Tsuna." Perhaps Reborn will, but there's very little he can do to him _right_ now, and he climbs back up to Tsuyoshi's rooms.

"One fish, and one letter, Tsuyoshi-sama." The honorific is for the maybe-not-a-NPC's ears, and Tsuyoshi laughs and takes them from him, revealing the passage to the Fountain.

"Once you've rescued my silly boy, Tsu-kun," the diminutive is teasing retaliation for the honorific; he can see it in the man's eyes, "we'll eat this before you set the dominos tumbling and we enter the second half of the game." Tsuyoshi keeps the sushi-grade fish's bottle but returns that of the letter, and he walks through the open gate to the fountain.


	8. Jabu-Jabu's Belly

He veers off, running around the edge of the fountain, intent on the Great Fairy grotto hidden in the corner of the valley, rather than just heading straight for Jabu-Jabu. If Takeshi were planning to embrace his role as Ruto the way that he suspected his Rain would (witness the Mafia Game he still insisted they were playing), then Farore's Wind would be useful, and Haru would pout if he didn't visit her as soon as possible, too.

He squeaks when Haru emerges from the fountain. His body isn't quite capable of reacting to what he was seeing, but Haru was obviously feeling mischevious, as she'd definitely embraced the role in a way that Chrome hadn't, and was wearing - or rather _not_ wearing - the Great Fairy's customary outfit. "That blush is _adorable_ , Tsuna. It's such a shame you're not mine to keep, but I'm having plenty of fun with Chrome and Kyoko." She grins. "But you don't mind us watching your 'adventures', right?"

He blinks, and then blushes harder, and shakes his head. "Good! Then you can have Farore's Wind, and a little bit of an upgrade to that sneaking technique you figured out, and one that both Reborn and I use for when you're an adult." She leans forward and kisses his cheek, and his head hurts a dizzying amount for a second. "Now, shoo. I'm looking forward to Takeshi's antics, and he's not going to play unless you're there to join in."

He takes the direction with amusement and swims back to where Jabu-Jabu was half asleep. Takeshi was waiting there, a sword on his back, and a grin on his lips. And very, very naked, and he stared his fill. "Hey. Enjoying the game, Tsuna?"

"Mostly."

"Good." His Rain grins. "Curious?" This had gone almost as completely sideways on him as he'd expect, just in a slightly different direction. He nods, warily. "Then you'll just have to catch me to find out more, _Boss_." He swears as his Rain dives into Jabu-Jabu's open mouth, and he catches sight of his Rain gleefully killing things before the Fish-God's mouth snaps shut again.

The downside to this, of course, is that most of the enemies in Jabu-Jabu's belly are of the sorts that divide and respawn quickly, and Mukuro's almost certainly turned the difficulty up to 11 to compensate for the fact that Takeshi had refused to play princess. Sighing, he pours out the offering that the Fish-God needed before he let people into his body (which was creepy as _fuck_ , damnit) and followed his Rain inside.

There's far too many Shabom and Octorok, and he curses as they attempt to stop him because he's already leaning into what he assumes is subbing for his 'magic meter' and moving - surprisingly smoothly - through one of the forms of Shigure Soen Ryuu. It's far more effective than his earlier attempts at stabbing things, and he laughs and pulls the slingshot out to finish the Shabom off, and then bombs the boulder to reveal the switch. The chest it made appear contained the map, and he was relieved because he always got turned around in here; it was the nature of the Fish-God's belly.

The fact he has to shoot the cows to proceed is just _bizarre_ , and he slips through valve-door and into the next room. He promptly gets himself electrocuted and swarmed, and he only just manages to cast Farore's Wind before he succumbs to them. (That had to be another example of Mukuro fucking with the game, because none of his bottled fairies revive him, and he's paralysed so he can't reach their bottles, and Reborn-Navi's laughing at him).

"Apparently Lambo-san needs to teach Tsu-nii his secret technique, too." His Lightning is sitting next to him on his bed, and he whines, everything aching. "Lambo-san will fill Tsu-nii's empty bottles with Green potion, and Tsu-nii will eat, and think, and sleep some more, and then go back to chasing Take-nii. Take-nii knows Nayru's Love and Farore's Wind too, so don't worry about Take-nii. He's having fun." He flops back on the bed and meditates on his Flames while Lambo bounces back out of his treehouse. (The six tiny scraps of Flames that he'd found what felt like _weeks_ ago were larger now, and easier to grasp. The weakest one is his Lightning and Rain, the other four getting at least minor workouts.)

He nibbles on a cupcake while playing with his Flames, making each in turn dance over his skin; the Yellow of the Sun comes easiest of the six and drains the colour out of his remaining bruises. He's just experimenting with the Green of the Lightning Flame when Lambo climbs back up into his treehouse, and his youngest Guardian bounces gleefully at the sight of him playing with his Lightning Flames. "That makes Lambo-san next task easier, Tsu-nii! All Tsu-nii has to do is let his Lightning absorb the electricity. When Tsu-nii gets _really_ good at it, Tsu-nii can convert the electricity into Flames and use them to attack. But that'll take Tsu-nii _lots_ of practice." Lambo grins and shocks him, and he blocks it with the hand covered in his Lightning Flames and is surprised when after the initial prickle. Rather than a paralysing shock, it was more like static.

"Tsu-nii learns fast. Now Tsu-nii should drink this, -" he's handed a blue potion, "- and then go chase Take-nii down and spank him for being silly." He shakes his head at the instruction, laughter on his lips and swallows the blue potion and his Lightning sticks his tongue out at him. "Try not to die so quickly this time, Tsu-nii. Baka-Dera is getting antsy." He peels himself off the bed, and heads for the door, and Lambo giggles. "Farore's Wind, Baka-Tsuna."

He facepalms and casts it again, and materialises back inside Jabu-Jabu's belly and manages to avoid dying at the Biri's tentacles. (He actually killed them with a Deku-Stick this time. Which made so much sense that he can't believe he didn't figure out when he played the game originally!)

He shoots his third cow for a small chest and what the fuck was up with that? It drops down, and he dives after it, aiming for the underwater passage; he'll pick it up on the way back up to continue chasing Takeshi. He only gets out of the water long enough to hit the switch and the fourth cow for the compass. (Had he already admitted to how easily he got lost in this dungeon? Well, it was true, and having the map in his head _and_ the compass would help a _lot_.) He shudders through an electric shock when he makes contact with the Stinger accidentally, but Lambo's trick at least means he can still pull himself up onto the lift-platform rather than drowning ignobly. (He didn't put that past Mukuro, to be honest.)

Takeshi sticks out his tongue at him in the next room, and dives through one of the holes and spanking him is getting increasingly appealing. Especially since the Biri try to swarm him and there about six times as many as there should be because his Rain has been 'playing' with them, and he edges around the Biri carefully and drops through the hole in question after his Rain.

"This will be far more fun if you let me fight too, Boss." He eyes his Rain and shakes his head in amusement. "Please?" The puppy-dog eyes get to him, and he sighs.

"Mukuro will make it harder, and there are several places where you'll need to wait on the switches so I can open the doors, and the Boss is going to steal you away temporarily."

"Maa, maa. But it's more fun this way. And I need to see if you've mastered the first forms of Shigure Soen Ryuu." And that ends the debate because Takeshi darts away from him to stand on a door-switch and he facepalms and slips through the doorway to retrieve the boomerang from the Like-Likes guarding it. He does lose his shirt to one, though he manages to retrieve it, and the shield also eaten, before they vanish entirely, and he thanks his lucky stars Takeshi hadn't followed him in. (And bottles Reborn-Navi again because he is so done with the taunting laughter.)

Takeshi is bouncing when they return to the room, and he groans as he realises the Biri have multiplied ten-fold and just how his Rain had been occupying himself while he retrieved the boomerang. (He stuns them all with the boomerang, and Takeshi scowls at him.) He leads the way through Jabu-Jabu's belly and shoots the two cows for the Like-Like. (He'd ignore them, but he needs the fire to get through to the Boss.) Takeshi dives past him to attack one of the Like-Like, and Mukuro was obviously paying attention because another pair of Like-Like appeared as well as a number of Biri, and what the hell was a Lizalfos doing _inside_ the Fish God?

What the Lizalfos was doing there was testing him for Takeshi's amusement, apparently. And his Rain was definitely embracing his in-game role, because when he defeated, he kissed him on the cheek and laughed, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what Takeshi was thinking. He sets one of the Deku-sticks he has stashed on fire and his Rain trails behind him to the web. He ignores the fact he can feel Takeshi's eyes on his butt, and fights off the parasitic tentacles whilst his Rain watches him like a really tasty snack. Given Takeshi occasionally watched Squalo like that, he suspected it was the fact he was wielding a sword semi-competently rather than anything else.

He has to fight another pair of Lizalfos once the tentacles have gone (there should only be one, but apparently Mukuro was amused and provided one for Takeshi to play with, too), and then there's the mini-Boss room, with the Zora Sapphire sat in the middle of the platform.

"Takeshi, I know you're having fun, but get your ass up on the platform so we can finish the dungeon, please? Or do I have to use a Deku-Nut on you, and throw you up there ..." His Rain pouts at him but does scramble up there. The platform rises, and he sighs at Takeshi's betrayed pout. "... I'll be up shortly, and then you can help me kill off Barinade, Takeshi."

The Giant Octorok is more annoying than anything else; he just has to get the timing right on the boomerang and then stab it. He pours Storm and Cloud Flames into the Kokiri Sword, and jump attacks, and cackles as he kills it in with a single blow.

Mukuro refuses to allow him _that_ easy a victory. Rather than the platform allowing him to climb on, there is suddenly a pair of Giant Octoroks for him to kill, and he decided that Super Princess Peach was an excellent fate for his Mist, even if he did have to pay Mammon to help him execute the idea.

He barely escapes their attack with two fairies still in their bottles (fortunately realising what Mukuro had done to the bottles to make things a little trickier, so he doesn't get kicked back to Kokiri Village) and jumps up onto the platform and rides it up. Takeshi isn't there - not that he expected him to be - and he only deviates from his path long enough to fill his empty bottle up with milk, just in case, and then continues into the Boss chamber, where Takeshi was, of course, tormenting Barinade. Not that either of them could really damage the other, given the version of Nayru's Love Takeshi was using _and_ Takeshi's lack of a boomerang with which to kill the Boss.

"'Keshi!" He tosses his Rain the pouch full of Deku-Nuts. "Once he's stunned, go for the jellyfish if you want to help me kill him." His Rain grins and thumbs up, and he concentrates on using his boomerang to slice through the parasitic tentacles. He's sure that Mukuro will throw a spanner into the works, and Barinade feels a bit like Levi, but that doesn't concern him too much given that Xanxus's Lightning wasn't very good at creative thinking. It was far more likely to be a grinding slog as the man was a _tank_ and really believed that a Lightning's role was to shield his Sky from physical harm. (He'd asked Xanxus about that, and the Wrath Sky had shrugged and told him that Levi was better than he _had_ been.)

He's right about Barinade being a tank of a Boss, but between the Lightning trick Lambo had shared with him and Takeshi's help, he gets through the battle with comparatively little damage. His Rain hugs him when they win, and he only has to swat at Takeshi's hands gently when he steps into the portal with him to get back to the surface.

"If I remember the game right, Tsuna, I give you the Zora Sapphire, and now we're engaged?" Takeshi teases him, and he's not quite sure how to respond, especially as his Rain kisses him the same way Ruto kissed Link in the game, and then drags him from the fountain and down into the Royal chambers.

Tsuyoshi's waiting for them with sushi and hands him the bottle that had previously contained the fish with a laugh at his still stunned expression. "You saved his life once, he's your responsibility now." The words are gentle, teasing. "I'm not sure I could have found a better Sky for _him_ if I'd spent a lifetime searching the world. The two of you _fit_." He squeaks and blushes hard, flailing for words, and Tsuyoshi hugs him, amused. "And yes, I took the opportunity for a cameo to ambush you. Now. I'm going to leave you to talk, and I'm going to go back to work; enjoy the rest of the game."

He vanishes, and he's still blushing as Takeshi curls up beside him and feeds him sushi. "Don't worry, Tsuna. I can be patient. Mukuro set ground rules for us."

(He's slightly worried by that declaration. Not as much as by how Kyoya's going to react to the next few scenes, but just a little bit anxious.)


	9. The Calamity

The Sky darkens, and even though he knows why he shivers; Xanxus was truly excelling himself in playing Ganondorf. The Wrath Sky normally ran hot, Sky mixed with Storm and more than a little Cloud, but Xanxus had pulled off a near inversion of his Flames, was projecting disharmony and ice rather than pleasure so fierce it burned, and he throws himself sideways as the drawbridge rattles down, and Dino-Impa rides like a bat out of hell past him, Kyoya-Zelda across the pommel of his horse - which definitely reminded him of Scuderia - encased in Nayru's Love, and he had to grin. (Apparently, this had been good for the older Sky, if he was getting that proficient with something that could mimic zero-point under the right conditions.)

The Ocarina of Time is thrown, and he only just ducks in time to avoid being killed by it - Kyoya was not in a good mood about being removed from the battleground, even if it was by _his_ Herbivore - and resists the temptation to attempt to catch it, instead choosing to turn to see how Xanxus would play Gandondorf in person. The answer was _terrifyingly_ well. He'd retained the costume but had kept most of his own features and the feathers in his hair. No pistols, but given that Mukuro had fashioned him something like his focus gloves, he doubted Xanxus needed his x-guns to be gloriously destructive. Nor had Xanxus kept Ganondorf's horse, and was instead flying using his Flames, and he envied Xanxus the fact he had enough of his Sky available to him to do so.

He stands, stoically, through Xanxus-Ganondorf's interrogation, and flips Xanxus off, as the older Sky takes off vertically, climbing high into the Sky to see where Dino-Impa had taken off to. (Despite his current lack of Sky Flames, he's entirely capable of channelling Xanxus's Flames through himself to the ground. Xanxus is _his_ ; there was no intent to harm in those Flames. More intent to cause mischief and mayhem, and perhaps do mildly unspeakable things to his older brother.)

Shaking his head in amusement, he dives into the water - as soon as Xanxus-Ganondorf was out of sight - to retrieve the Ocarina of Time. (He was spared the saccharine scene to learn the Song of Time; the memory of it merely blooms into vivid clarity in his mind, and he fingers the ocarina gently, as he climbs out of the moat.)

Whilst there were things he could retrieve - Gold Skulltulas and heart-quarters and the masks - he didn't need to, and he was rather curious as to how the next part of this was going to work, and exactly what everyone had been hinting at.

The town is a mess, and there's an ominous trail of Xanxus-Ganondorf's Flames still burning through the town, cold and twisted and hungry, and he realises just how easy Xanxus had taken it on him during the Ring Battles. (Just how badly injured had Xanxus been from being kept in Zero-Point Ice for almost a decade?) He shivers, and makes a sharp right turn, heading for the Temple of Time cradling the three Sacred Stones in his arms.

There are three dished hollows for the stones, and he places each in turn and then steps into the inner temple, where he knows he'll find the Master Sword, and he'll have another run in with Xanxus in his role as Ganondorf. He gasps and shudders as he touches the Master Sword, realises that it contains a fragment of his Sky back and is so consumed by its heady touch, that he barely notices the Wrath Sky's presence until Xanxus throws back his head and laughs, hands wrapped around the triforce.

It splinters, and both he and Xanxus hiss as two of the three pieces burrow into their flesh, with the third vanishing (whether to burrow into Dino's flesh, as the third Sky present in the game, or Kyoya's as Zelda, he's not entirely sure). He blacks out at that point, but knowing the game inside out, he expects to come face-to-face with Mukuro next. (Perhaps he'll punch his Mist in the face for some of the things he's pulled so far.)

* * *

His body aches and feels more like his own when he wakes up again (and he's not ashamed that his full-body check includes the presence and size of his cock) though he does take a few carefully breaths and reaches for his Flames before he gives away that he's awake. "Kufufufufufu. This is my realm, even more so than Hyrule proper, Tsunayoshi. You can't hide that you're awake from me."

If he can't, he comes up swinging but fails to make contact with any part of Mukuro. "Are you enjoying the game? I will admit that when Reborn suggested it, I hadn't expected it to be this entertaining, but judging by the state of the save files, you adore this World, which might be contributing to its vividness and to some _unusual_ extra details that have been emerging."

He tugs the bottle containing Navi-Reborn from his pocket. "If you remove this from the game," he hands his Mist the bottle, "I'd enjoy it far more." Mukuro throws his head back and laughs. "And if you want me to forgive you your sins, Mukuro, trap him in the Resident Evil Revelations cartridge at the back of my game drawer until we're done."

"Done, Tsunayoshi. And I'm enjoying this so much I might have to make this a regular training exercise. Your idea about Pokemon was thoroughly amusing, and I agree about Kyoya making an adorable Shaymin." Mukuro forms a disk with his Flames, and there was something incongruous about his mass-murderer of a Mist giving him the Light Medallion. "Don't get too dependent on those Sky Flames the Triforce of Courage is allowing you to access; I can take them away if they spoil the game too much." He takes the medallion silently, watching as it sinks into his flesh. "I'm too occupied keeping this running reasonably smoothly to join in, Tsunayoshi, but the others would get bored if they weren't allowed to play. I've applied a small difficulty multiplier - as I did for Jabu-Jabu - so that they can. Enjoy."

Mukuro doesn't have the decency to warn him before he's kicked out of the Sacred Realm. He lands with a thud in the Temple of Time, rolling to a stop at the feet of his Cloud, who looked far happier than he had been in the earlier part of the game. 'She' was no longer trussed up in an outfit fitting for a Hylian Princess, but rather in full fighting garb, armed with a pair of tonfas that had clearly been reforged from Zelda's rapier.

"Hn. About time, Omnivore. I was getting bored." He scrambles to his feet, and ducks as Kyoya-Sheik throws 'herself' at him, and the fight is glorious, especially since he's got just enough Sky to really give Kyoya a fight, and this was an excellent way to test out his new 'adult' form. They fight each other to a draw, though he notices that Kyoya-Sheik is barely exhausted and straddling his waist, whereas he's flat on his back and panting hard. 'She' laughs, and pours a blue potion into his mouth, forcing him to swallow it, or drown, and then slides down his body to straddle his thighs.

"We'll have another fight at the Forest Temple; you have a lot of improving to do before you're fit to face the Varia Carnivore. I _know_ you can fight better than that, Omnivore." Kyoya-Sheik vanishes, 'her' weight abruptly gone from his thighs and he sighs, and levers himself up from the floor. At least his Cloud had been generous enough to pour a blue-potion into him, so he didn't actually hurt from the beating Kyoya had delivered to him.

The town is in ruins, saturated with Xanxus's deliberately twisted Sky Flames, and infested by reDead that feel suspicious like Lussuria's been experimenting in dubious ways. He shudders at the thought - which killed any arousal from his fight with Kyoya-Sheik - and plays the Song of the Sun and makes a run for the Field.

He veers right out of Castle Town, heading directly for the ranch. He wants Epona to ride! (He also wants to able to go and investigate the Gerudo as early as possible, to check who was playing Nabooru; there was only one of his Guardians missing from the game as far as he could tell, and if Mukuro had put Hayato in that outfit, there were going to be fireworks. Probably _literal_ ones if his Right-Hand had found himself a supply of sulphur.)

Retrieving the now gorgeous horse from Ingo - still an NPC character - is fairly simple; staying in front of the man just means riding carefully - Dino had taken the time to teach him to ride on one of his visits, so he had some idea of what he was supposed to do - and he jumps the gate of the ranch. He _could_ probably go and investigate the Gerudo now; Epona would allow him to jump the broken bridge, but he wouldn't be able to get out of the jail cell without the Hookshot. (He wasn't sure what Mukuro would throw in his way as a roadblock, and as he'd never tried to get there so early in the game when playing, whether there was something else he'd forgotten, and he wanted the Hookshot and Bow just in case.)

He turns Epona in the direction of Kakariko Village. As much as he wanted to race to rescue Lambo-Saria, he'd need the Hookshot to get into the temple, and it was better to get this bit over and done with, before Mukuro decided it was one of the parts of the game he could make trickier by adding reDeads. (There was an ominous kufufufu-ing, in the back of his head, and he swore; he'd forgotten that the Sages could 'talk' to him, once he had their medallions.)

He collapses in relief at the end of the race when there aren't any reDeads, and waves a mental fist in his Mist's direction. His answer is a blown kiss, and an image of Reborn waking in the opening scene of the game he'd suggested that makes him double over in laughter. The chest reveals the Hookshot, and he tests it out, and yelps as it nearly dislocates his shoulder. That was going to force him to practise his Flames, given the amount of the Forest Temple that involved Hookshot-ing around! Sighing he plays the Ocarina to shift the block out of the way, and facepalms as he remembers where this will bring him out. Logic and Hyrule's geography were only in nodding acquaintance with each other.

He grabs the heart-quarter anyway; its taste reminds him he needs to eat, and it's Sun Flames ease the ache in his shoulder. The Song of Storms has its uses in the Forest Temple (mostly for Fairies), so he acquires it before heading for the Lost Woods.

(Epona is waiting for him at the entrance, and he has to fight the temptation to go and check on Hayato, but he steers for the woods and the youngest and most vulnerable of his Guardians. It's not that he doesn't trust Mukuro, but his Mist has a twisted sense of safe-and-appropriate at times.)


	10. Forest Temple

He gnaws on a piece of cheese as he steps into the village. It's infested with monsters, and he barely dodges the bite of one of the big Deku-Babas but manages to step back in time. (All of the Kokiri are safely hidden away and safe, save for Lambo-Saria and Mido, and he ignores the monsters for now in favour of reaching the Forest Temple entrance.

Mido stops him, demanding evidence of his identity, and complaining about what his presence had done to Lambo-Saria, but not very clearly; there was also something about the monsters present. It wasn't the standard NPC-script; was this part of what Mukuro meant by his memories of the game and his actions slowly distorting it? He plays Saria's Song anyway, and Mido grumbles but lets him through and deeper into the Woods.

He navigates them by memory; right, left, right, left, straight, left and finally right; the music being missing is creepy after Lambo's loud and obnoxious playing of his favourite song, and he shivers. Another encounter with Kyoko-Sheik, and with Lambo are both excellent motivations though.

He's amused to find that the Wolfos that should be there is gone; one of his Guardians had apparently decided to object to their presence, and Mukuro had chosen not to regenerate them. But that was because he'd fucked with the Moblins, and made them sensitive to noise as well as to movement, and he's sent flying by the first one. Fortunately, his Mist had decided to restore the auto-release feature on the bottles, so one of his fairies resurrected him.

«Kufufufu. I didn't think you wanted Reborn to escape the bottle he was in, and that was how I ensured it. It wasn't like you would be suffering a perma-death, Tsunayoshi.»

He shook his head in amusement, and proceeded to move much more carefully and slowly, and only gets killed by one more Moblin. Fortunately, it's the last one, and he scrambles up the ladder to the hedge-tops and slides down another to retrieve several fairies from the fountain because that was his Mist being ridiculous and cruel and trying to make things harder even before he'd liberated any of his Guardians.

«Me, cruel, Tsunayoshi? I did remove the nuisance you requested. I could put him back in play again.»

He mumbles something less than complimentary and chases fairies in the fountain to make sure he had a complete set, before climbing back out again. He takes great delight in shooting the Moblins in the head with his Hookshot from up here. It's very therapeutic, especially when his Mist gives one suspiciously familiar blonde hair, but this wasn't getting Lambo rescued, or Kyoya placated.

The Club Moblin was intimidating but slow-moving (Mukuro had definitely tweaked its reflexes because it clobbers him twice, and splats him into the wall once, cracking his ribs. He allows his Sun Flames to seep into the broken bones, and his Cloud to extend the Hookshot so he could stun it because he was done thank you very much, especially as he could _hear_ the Moblins behind him resurrecting.) And rewards him with several red rupees, and he steps into the grove of the Forest Temple.

Kyoko-Sheik is waiting for him, with what passes for his amused grin quirking his lips slightly. "Ready, Omnivore?"

His body still aches, and he holds up three fingers, waiting for his breathing to ease, and the ribs to knit back together. Once they have (draining half of his mental stamina gauge) he nods, and Kyoya-Sheik starts to teleport and swipe at him. He groans at the fact that his Cloud had _definitely_ mastered short, point-to-point jumps in a way he'd never bothered with in the past, and he needs his intuition to keep up. He resorts to using the Deku-Nuts - and a carefully concealed bomb - to put his Cloud flat on his back, and Kyoya scowls up at him.

He offers his Cloud a hand to get up, but he's pulled down and straddled again, a tonfa held against his throat as the other opens a bottle to pour a blue potion into his mouth. "A reminder that not all enemies stay dead." Two fingers coated in Mist Flames are pressed against the Ocarina, and the Minuet of Forest blooms in the back of his mind. "I've decided you'll battle me for all the Songs you need, Omnivore. But the next battle is to be Primary Weapons _only_."

His Cloud vanishes, and he rolls over and pushes himself up to his feet again. The advantage to the blue potions that Kyoya-Sheik keeps pouring into him was that they seemed to be dealing with his exhaustion; he'd need to find somewhere to sleep though, eventually, and he takes a few moments to eat something. (There's still a _lot_ of food in the pouch Lambo had made him; it was a little bit ominous in some ways.)

The Forest Temple is both heartbreaking in its ruination _and_ beautiful. And makes him intensely curious as to who built it and when, and he's going to have to find a copy of the Historia Hyrule when the game's over.

«Kufufufu, what did you think I was using as a reference guide, Tsunayoshi?» Mukuro's voice in his head was going to take some time to get used to; was this what Chrome lived with on a daily basis?

There are Skulltula everywhere inside the room, and he really, really wants the bow-and-arrows hidden within the temple. He could probably kill most of the Skulltula by extending the Hookshot with his scrap of Cloud Flames, but Mukuro would probably make things trickier in retaliation. He would have to ask Kyoya about how he manipulated the chains in his tonfa; he was curious as to if he was using the same method, and why wasn't Shoichi here to take notes?

«Kufufufu, I'm recording it; he can watch later.»

(He'd be willing to bet that Mukuro had been planning to use it for blackmail purposes. That would be just like his Mist.)

He uses the Hookshot to climb up the 'safe' wall, and barely manages to grab onto the vines before the Hookshot unlatches, and then swings himself up, and sideways, and onto the tree trunk. A big Skulltula is lurking up in the tree branches above him, and he pours his Flames into the Hookshot, Cloud and Storm and aims at it, wanting to ensure it didn't knock him out of the air. He then cheats a little bit jumping across between the two trees, using a touch of Sky Flames to ensure that he makes the leap successfully, and hits the switch for the small key.

(He resists the temptation to multiply it with his Cloud Flames; he suspects he'll need them more later, and that he needs the work up and training before he faces the phantom Ganondorf that was the Boss for the temple. «Kufufufu. Sensible.»)

The passage to the main room has half a dozen closely packed Skulltula concealed above the ceiling, and they drop in sequence. He only realises there's that many when he kills the two he'd expected, steps forward, and the third descends on him and bites him, leaving him with a throbbing poisoned bite and a desire to curse someone. There are, fortunately, shadows on the floor to indicate their presence, and he kills the rest of them with his Hookshot.

The 'cut' scene on the other side of the door gives him enough time to chase the poison out of his system with Storm Flames, and to check his pockets. He's a little low on some of his supplies, and he'll check the plants in the room for hearts and Deku-Nuts (that mechanic still makes no sense, but he's not going to turn his nose up at it). He's only half surprised that the four Poes are being played by Levi and his Lightning minions. They were fast and agile, and not particularly dangerous unless you weren't paying attention because they were tanks, not planners. Hopefully, they hadn't been tormenting Lambo the way they had been willing to do during the Ring Battles.

Once the scene is played out, he finds - and eats - enough hearts to have himself feeling like he's been drinking Reborn's Espresso again, before heading through the first doorway. There's a Time-Block blocking the way, and he plays the requisite tune, and then pulls his sword before he opens the revealed door. (His intuition was sharper, now he had some of his Sky Flames back, and he could _feel_ the hunger on the other side of the door.)

The hunger was a pack of Wolfos. Not a pair, but half-a-dozen, and Mukuro is kufufufu-ing in the back of his head. It's only a bottled fairy, and the techniques that Takeshi had shared, combined with the scrap of Storm Flames he's been slowly strengthening that brings him through the fight (and only just). When it's done, he slumps down beside the wooden chest, and breaths through the pain and the pulled muscles, and eats several of wontons from Lambo's pouch and contemplates what to do next.

There's a small key in the chest, and he loops it onto the chain on his belt. He's done what he can to restore himself and soothed the torn and wrenched muscles. (It feels much like the aftermath of the Dying Willing Mode had when Reborn had first started his training campaign.) Once he's sure he's _physically_ intact, he makes his first attempt to use his scrap of Cloud Flames on internal body chemistry rather than sensory enhancement, and it's far easier to move with enough endorphins in his system.

A pair of Stalfos ambush him before he reaches the one open doorway, and he swears and brings his shield up, and wishes he had Takeshi at his back with his sword. He doubles-down on that wish when the Stalfos shimmer and gain a blue sheen so briefly he almost didn't catch it - but the way they both throw their shields away and start to move more smoothly he knows what's just happened. «Oops»

Oops, what the fuck did his Mist mean by _oops_?! He parries one Stalfos' blade, and lunges at the other, and rolls out of range of the counter-attack and tried to remember where he'd resurrect if Squalo killed him in the Forest Temple. «Mammon figured out how to manipulate Hyrule, too. They're limited to allowing the others to possess enemies other than the ones I chose for them for now. And you'll resurrect in a bed in Kakariko Village. Mostly to amuse me.»

Given it was _Squalo_ he was facing - who was currently laughing at him, he stopped trying to obey the physics of the game and made use of his Sky Flames to run up the wall and launches his attacks from there. That saves him a messy death on Squalo's swords, but with one Stalfos dead, the Varia Rain's attention was no longer split. «Hmph. With Mammon having figured _that_ out, I may need to step in a little more than I planned to keep this amusing. I can give you just long enough to get a killing blow in.»

The Stalfos shimmers dark blue, and he lands on his shoulders and stabs the Master Sword through its skull just before Squalo manages to wrest control of it again. He dives through the door he'd been intent on as a precaution; Stalfos regenerated sometimes, and he didn't want to discover that Mammon had figured _that_ trick out.

Adrenaline was still pouring through his system, so he kept on moving; this was a simple enough room that mostly involved pushing-and-pulling blocks around, and he calmed down a little in the process. (A touch of Cloud Flames to increase his strength made it easier to move the blocks.) There's a switch he can reach now, and he hits it and takes a breather. There are Wallmasters and Floormasters in the next few rooms, and he doesn't want to stop moving long enough to be grabbed.

He sprints through the next area, ignoring the Blue Bubbles and dives for the Boss Key Chest, dragging himself to it with the Hookshot. And thank fuck he'd figured out how to length the chain because he only just managed to pull himself out of range of the Wallmaster with it. There's a reDead lurking in the next room, guarding another small key he needs, and he plays the Song of the Sun only for it not to freeze, and he swears loudly and profusely, and the grin on the reDead was rather familiar. «I'm going to _talk_ to Fran. You're on your own for a little while, Tsunayoshi.»

Lussuria laughs, and at least they hadn't figured out how to over-ride the reDead's physical limitations. They moved slowly, but implacably and if there weren't a key at stake he'd retreat back through the door and do his best to remain ignorant of the fact Lussuria was experimenting with the reDead. "You're rather pretty like this, baby-Boss."

Oh hell no. He rolls and stabs at the reDead's back and channels every scrap of Storm Flames he can scrape up through the Sword. It leaves him exhausted, and he shivers and bars the door. He just needs a few moments to eat, and maybe sleep without being under threat. «Wake-up, Tsunayoshi.» He bolts upright, fingers tightening convulsively around the pommel of the Master Sword. «Fran's decided to play nice in return for some of Haru's cooking. She's bribing him at the minute. There's only Levi's Squad and a bored Xanxus in the Forest Temple now.»

That wasn't actually comforting, but he struggled awake again, and Mukuro nudged at his hand helpfully until he found a flask of coffee in Lambo's pouch. It helped a _lot_.

He slips through the door, and hits the switch in the next room and then Hookshots his way back up to the upper level, and heads for the Stalfos room. There were three in the regular version of the game, but as the prize for completing it was the Fairy Bow, and Mukuro had just locked Squalo out of the Temple, then they'd probably be quantity ...

... he's right. There's a pair waiting for him, and when he manages to kill them (not that they're dead; their bones don't vanish into dust) the platform drops. There are another half dozen Stalfos on it, and he whimpers and reaches for the Deku-Nuts in his pouch and curses the way he'd used his Sky and Storm up against Lussuria. The nap hadn't been long enough for his Flames to restore themselves, and he resorts to Lightning Flames to harden his skin and launches into one of the Shigure Soen Ryuu sequences. He's not quite fast enough though, and the two earlier Stalfos resurrect just as he kills the six from the platform. One of them stabs him in the back, and he dies on its blade - fortunately, he has enough fairies to resurrect himself - he takes great delight in killing it when he comes back.

He's rewarded with the Fairy Bow when the Stalfos were finally dead (and that would have been so much easier with Storm Flames to disintegrate the bones to stop them from returning).

There's a Song-of-the-Storm fairy in the middle of the room too, and when he's lured it out and coaxed it to himself. Its touch makes him shiver, but it also restores him fully, leaving him feeling like he'd had a full night's sleep, enough to eat and a blue potion. It was a shame that he couldn't bottle them the way he could the others, or like he had Navi-Reborn. But that was something to contemplate and experiment with later; now he had four Lightning-Poes to hunt, and one of his own to find. (He ignored the shiver of _something_ at the idea of facing Xanxus as Phantom Ganon.)

With the (cross)Bow-and-Arrows equipped he sprints through the remaining rooms, searching for the Poes; he expects that they're going to be in the rooms he expected to them, but more resistant to damage than they were supposed to be. (He still hadn't forgiven them for threatening to kill Lambo during the Ring Battles, even if they hadn't been entirely serious.) The first one is where it should be, and he drops into a crouch and fires an arrow at it.

It doesn't seem to do anything, and he groans and draws his sword instead; he drives Uno into a corner and slashes at him repeatedly, using a Rain-enhanced Deku-Nut to keep him in place, and fuck-a-duck this was a ridiculous grind. (There's a compass as a reward, but he doesn't particularly need it. The dungeon had already been symmetrical, and he has the two most important items.)

Due and Tre are just as much of a grind, though they each have their own tricks. Tre shocking him with every strike, and he's absolutely relieved that Lambo taught him the technique he had. (Every muscle aches, but he's not consumed any more of his fairies, which is a relief because he's going to be facing a bored Xanxus without more than a fragment of his Sky.) Levi's waiting for him in the main room, and has obviously been training with Lussuria, because that trick - moving so fast that he blurs and it's hard to figure out which version of him is real - is straight out of the Sun Officer's Playbook.

He can't use Ryohei's trick to resolve the issue, either. In the end, he pulls out the Bow-and-Arrows and shuts his eyes, pulling up his Sky Flames and leans into his intuition. He fires, still blind, and there's a shriek of rage from Xanxus's Lightning Officer, and he overcharges the Master Sword with everything he has available to him and stabs the Levi-Poe. It explodes into dust, and he collapses, having used most of his Flames up, and he lays there on the floor for a very long time, trying to scrape together enough energy to summon another Storm-fairy to revive himself. «Kufufufu. Levi should never have threatened Lambo, should he?»

That was a rhetorical question, and he levered himself upright, and pulled the Ocarina out of his pocket, and played the Song-of-Storms. «There's not a fairy here.» He snarls, and Mukuro makes an amused sound. «Okay, okay. I can make one appear. And Xanxus would be disappointed if you didn't give him a good fight.»

The Storm Fairy lands on his forehead, and he squeaks as it sinks into his flesh. It's like fire in his blood, and he flexes his fingers, calling for his Flames. There aren't enough for zero-point, but he's not willing to do that to Xanxus _ever_ again. The Wrath Sky was _his_ , and he didn't harm his own.

(He didn't count this kind of training as harm. Lussuria had been amused when he'd defeated him, and Levi's annoyance was Levi's standard annoyance at him being stronger than his own Sky.)

He slips down into the Boss chamber and nocks an arrow. He doesn't have to wait for very long before he 'feels' Xanxus's presence, and his lips curve into a wicked smile as he realises he has one specific advantage; Xanxus might have a Sky's Intuition but it wasn't the full Hyper Intuition, and he wasn't hiding his Flames. It meant that he could shut his eyes and shoot, and hit Xanxus the requisite three times to make him dismount. It does get him snarled at, and he can't resist sticking his tongue out at the older Sky. "I thought you were supposed to be an assassin, Xanxus. You're almost as noisy as Squalo is."

The Wrath Sky bounces a ball of Flames in his hand and hovers there. "Tsch. You knew I was coming, and I save subtlety for when I'm being paid for it, or there's a reward in it for me." Xanxus's smile is dark, and there's an edge of something he ignores in favour of not getting hit with the Wrath Flames. He watches the pattern and draws the Master Sword, hardening it with what Lightning Flames he could call up, and then batting one of the balls back at Xanxus.

That sets them up in a very lethal tennis match; he takes the first ball to the chest, not responding in time, and it's only a fairy that resurrects him. His succeeds on his second attempt, knocking his Wrath-Sky out of the air, and he pounces on Xanxus's downed form. The first blow with his Sword, he infuses with both Rain and Sky and Xanxus screams in something that could be rage - and takes to the air again.

The Wrath snarls something that makes no sense to him, about Sorrow, and fucking Mists, and how this was supposed to be training. He's more focused on the ball of Wrath Xanxus is gathering up as it's far bigger than the first two. It's crackling with more than just Storm and Sky, and he squeaks and barely gets his sword up in time to deflect the ball. It's batted back and forth between them almost a dozen times, growing in strength, and he finally leans into his intuition and manages to get the ball to connect. Xanxus roars in that not-rage again, falling to the ground, and he stabs him again with the same Rain-Sky combination, and he's not quite sure what's going on.

This isn't how this is supposed to go, and he drops the Sword, pressing both hands, coated in his Flames, to Xanxus's side. He feels his Wrath's Flames rise in response before they hiss and shy away, and the older Sky vanishes in a dark haze; he wants to follow Xanxus through it, to finish whatever it is he's started ...

... but he can't; the Mist Flames fade too quickly, and he's too tired to try and hold onto the remnants. The exit circle shimmers into existence, and he crawls to the heart container and bites it gratefully; it doesn't do anything for his Flames, but it does give him enough energy to stumble to the circle, where he collapses, and Lambo catches him as they both tumbled into the Sacred Realm. His Lightning is the same height as he is, which makes no sense; weren't the Kokori unaging? "That was very entertaining, Tsu-nii." Lambo frowns and tilts his head in Mukuro's direction. "Though why didn't we get to see how his battle with Xanxus ended, pineapple-head?"

"Kufufufu. Xanxus threatened me earlier. He gets privacy for his fights with Tsunayoshi."

His Lightning sits and cradles his head in his lap, and he lays there, exhausted with Lambo's hands carding through his hair. "Tsu-nii needs to look after himself better. It's just as well Lambo-san knows how to use a Bow and can come with Tsu-nii now. Lambo-san just had to figure out Fire resistance and as Lambo-san has -" He wants to argue with his Lightning, but having company sounds really good to him. "- sleep, Tsu-nii. We have time."


	11. Prelude of Light and Goron City

"If you can give Xanxus privacy with Tsu-nii, you can give Lambo-san privacy with Tsu-nii, pervert Pineapple." He turns his head, burying his face in his Lightning's lap, and Lambo makes a sound that he's not familiar with.

"Kufufufu. It'll cost you, cow-brat." Lambo's hands were still carding through his hair, even as Mist Flames settle on his Lightning. "Summon your medallion for him when you're done, and I'll return." The weight of his Mist's presence vanishes again.

He attempts to struggle up, embarrassed by the way his Lightning was babying him, but Lambo laughed and held him down, gently. "Tsu-nii, the minute we emerge from the Sacred Realm, you have two sparring matches with Hibari-san, who is in a scary mood, and then we're venturing into a Volcano. Let Lambo-san enjoy looking after Tsu-nii for a bit, and then when Tsu-nii has had enough sleep, Tsu-nii can eat, and Lambo-san will practice with Tsu-nii's bow, and only _then_ we'll go outside, 'kay?"

When he wakes back up again - and Lambo had definitely done _something_ to get him to sleep, perhaps with that sweet scent he'd smelt - there's a feast laid out, and he's nested in a pile of furs, and his Lightning is practicing with his Bow. He's not sure how this is going to work, exactly, but he can see the shape of Reborn's original plan, and the lesson he was supposed to learn. It was about Lambo being one of his Guardians and someone he could depend on to cover his back (with the added benefit of teaching his Lightning to use a ranged weapon, something that suited his preferences better than the bull-horns he'd been given).

"Lambo-san has his eye in now! Tsu-nii should eat, and then we'll be ready to go."

"Lambo-kun, you're _different_."

His Lightning grins. "Tsu-nii noticed. Mukuro borrowed the Bazooka, and I'm a future version of your Lambo. We negotiated, and as the game's a Mist construct, I'm playing, but my younger self will get a copy of the skills I learn. Or at least that's how it worked in _my_ past. I'm actually older than you at the moment, little brother." The 'little brother' is teasing and affectionate, but also reassuring, and he allows himself a moment to check out his Lightning.

Lambo's skin has a pale green undertone (at least under the stark white light of the Sacred Realm), and with his currently green hair, he looks like Lampo, or as if he's kin to Verde, and he puts that thought away for later. "Are you going to be okay in the Fire Temple, Lambo?"

"Mhmm. I modified Nayru's Love -" Lambo cut him off before he could ask his Lightning to teach him the spell. "- sorry, Tsu-nii. I can't teach it to you. The Stupid Pineapple did something weird with the three goddess-spells when he let us learn them, but it means we can join you in the Temples without you needing to worry about us getting hurt. Mukuro said that you should be able to summon us to your side using the medallions. He wasn't very clear about it." He had a thought about how that _might_ work and runs a Sky-Flame covered thumb over the small yellow pseudo-gem embedded under the skin of his wrist.

"Or you could summon me back like that, Tsunayoshi. I was trying to give the two of you the privacy that the cow-child requested." He's amused when Lambo fires an arrow at his Mist, and Mukuro catches it. "Kufufufu. My world, my rules, brat. Give him your medallion and then go play with the grumpy Skylark." Lambo sticks his tongue out at the Mist in mimicry of his younger self and then concentrates, summoning the familiar Forest Medallion. He touches it warily, and it dissolves into his flesh in the same way that Mukuro's had.

They're dumped out of the Sacred Realm not at the entrance to the Forest Temple, but in the Deku-Tree's grove, where another cut-scene info-dump should have happened, but instead, the Deku-Tree sprout looks at Lambo-Saria in shock, and he can barely contain his giggles.

"Don't worry about it Deku-sama. There are both gods and magic in play." The sapling pulls a face. "And I know about my 'history'. I promise I'll look after Saria for you." The two of them pile leaves up around the sapling as insulation and protection from the monsters wandering around the Lost Woods at the moment and then slip back through the village, and Lambo demonstrates his skill with the Bow by taking out the Deku-shrubs for him.

At the entrance to the forest, he plays Epona's song and wonders how this was supposed to work with one or more of his Guardians in tow. His answer becomes apparent a few moments later when she arrives, a second horse following her, and he boosts Lambo into the saddle and pours some of his Cloud Flames into the quiver his Lightning had swiped from him, so that Lambo had ammunition, just in case.

They race across the Field side by side, and, at Epona and her stablemate's speed, they avoid the Stalos, and reach the ruins of Castle Town before nightfall. (That doesn't make that much difference to things; the reDead don't vanish at dawn, but the town is a little less creepy in daytime). They dismount, and Epona grabs the reins of the second horse, leading her away towards safety, and he fishes the Ocarina out of its pocket.

"The reDead are basically zombies, and arrows won't really have any effect on them until you have the fire arrows, Lambo. I'm going to play a Song to freeze them, and then I need you to follow me _exactly_ , 'Kay?" His Lightning nods and he wonders if Mukuro had actually shown him a reDead, or he was about to have to deal with a freakout, given how many of them looked at least vaguely like members of the DC.

There's a hiss from Lambo, but his Lightning holds his nerve, and he plays the Song of the Sun, and they do all freeze this time. (He'd half expected Lussuria to have inhabited one of them again, despite what Mukuro had said, and be doing unspeakable things to one of the other reDead). They sprint into the temple anyway and skid to a halt just before the altar for the Sacred Stones. Amusingly, Kyoya's napping on top of the altar, and he wonders briefly whether he dare tip-toe around his Cloud; it's only an idle thought, though, because he needs the Prelude of Light, and Kyoya's the only one who can teach it to him.

He twitches when Lambo bounces up to the altar and prods at his temperamental Cloud. Kyoya lashes out, one tonfa gleaming with purple fire, and the blow sparks off a sudden manifestation of Nayru's Love. "Hah. Stupid Pineapple-head didn't think my reflexes were fast enough to pull that off!"

Kyoya snarls at being thwarted, and then catches sight of him, and spins to lash out at him instead. He barely gets his sword out and shield up in time to deal with the blow from the still purple-tinged tonfa. It's so overpowered that it cracks his Hylian Shield, and forces him back a good six feet. "Christ, Kyoya. If you want to hit things that hard, go play in the Dodongo Cavern; I can't replace my shield until I get back to Kakariko village." The follow-up blow shatters his shield and connects with his ribs, and he's not as fast as Lambo is with his Lightning Flames, not yet, anyway. He folds over, the pain overwhelming and Kyoya scowls, and is suddenly over him, pouring a blue potion into his mouth, forcing him to swallow.

"You were improving, little animal." He doesn't have the breath to speak at this point, but he can hear the frustration in his Cloud's voice.

"And you banned him from using the tricks he was developing. We're not all meant to fight head-on. Even the biggest Carnivores will use tricks to bring down prey if it makes things easier, Kyoya-nii."

"Hn." The sound was thoughtful, and he raised an eyebrow at Lambo's use of the nii-suffix, and what it suggested about the future relationship between his Lightning and his Cloud. "Be better in the Volcano, little animal. Toys, and Primary Weapons, but no Flames." The Prelude of Light blooms into existence in his head, distracting him long enough for Kyoya-Sheik to vanish again, leaving the pathway to the Past open again. He doesn't need to use it yet; he has everything he needs for now.

"We can walk to the Village, Lambo. Same rule about getting past the reDead, 'kay?" He's less worried about his Lightning now. If Lambo's confident he can stand up to Kyoya, at least a bit, and could protect himself from a blow like the one that destroyed his Shield, he was less worried about his safety.

"Understood, Tsu-nii." There was an undertone of _something_ in his Lightning's voice, but he ignored it and led the way out into the Ruins, Ocarina held loosely in his hand; he needed to be in amongst the reDead for playing the Song of the Sun to be effective.

He plays it, and they slip between the reDead and back out into Hyrule Field, and jog around the Town Walls to reach Kakariko Village. He walks more slowly into the village this time, and realize with some amusement that the Guard at the gates is a bemused looking Tetsuya - or at least an NPC baring his likeness. "How did Mukuro persuade you into the game, Kusakabe-san?"

The Guard unbends slightly. "The Chairman's sworn enemy didn't _ask_ , Sawada-kun. We are the Chairman's, and those of us with Flames were pulled in with him." That makes him twitch, especially given the way a number of the reDead had pompadours, and he resolves to _discuss_ the issue with his Mist on his next visit to the Sacred Realm.

Lambo tugs at his wrist, and into the completed house to play at the Shooting Gallery. He pays the rupees over to Chikusa, who was manning the facility and then leans back against the rear wall to admire his Lightning's form as he expertly plays the game. Mukuro's silent Rain scowls at him and makes a gesture that implies he should be the one playing the game, and he makes an answering one implying that Chikusa should blame Mukuro for this change to the plan.

The Rain shrugs, expressive despite his silence, and slides the Big Quiver over the counter, and when Lambo manages a second 10/10, the heart quarter, too. He has to pull his Lightning away from the target range; Lambo seems to have decided that he enjoyed the bow, and an amused portion of his brain wonders if Talbot could tweak the Box Rings so that they had slightly more appropriate weapons to use if they needed them.

His Lightning proves to be an equally accurate shot when they venture onto the mountain, though a bit overly focused. He has to pull Lambo out of the way of more than one of the rolling rocks, as Lambo was so focused on his Tektite targets that he was oblivious to the threat. (He didn't want to test Nayru's Love and find it wanting, thank you very much. He had enough worries about Lambo's safety; he'd made the mistake of asking Hayato about how the Mafia viewed each Flame-type, and immediately regretted it.)

He shakes his head, dismissing the train of thought, and slips into the near-abandoned Goron City. He can hear the Goron-Link (or Goron-Tsuna, given Ryohei had had a part in naming him) rumbling around his level. (And fuck, he wishes he had Hayato here - or Takeshi - both of them would make a far quicker job of this 'quest' than he would.) "Can you go and retrieve the golden Skulltula while I stop the baby Goron, Lambo, or is that going to separate us too much?"

His Lightning chews on his lip, trying to assess _something_. "Lambo-san doesn't know, but is willing to test things out." (The reversion to the younger Lambo's speech patterns makes him wonder exactly what Mukuro had done to achieve what he'd been told his Mist had done in the Sacred Realm). Lambo edges out along the thick hemp-cable, and he drops down carefully to the level of the rolling Goron. It aches slightly, tugging at his senses, but they maintain the separation, and he concentrates on stopping Goron-Link and leaves Lambo to his task. It takes him six bombs to bring his namesake to a halt, and they slide sideways into the cut-scene. (He blinks, a sudden image invading his mind's eye rather insistently. Goron-Link claimed to be Darunia-Ryohei's son; how did the Gorons reproduce? Goron-Link was tiny compared to the others, but just as rocky and as hard to harm as Darunia-Ryohei …)

The problem with this temple is rammed home though, during the cut-scene; he'd almost been able to forget that the game, at least, had had Ganondorf planning to feed the Gorons to Volvagia. (Which still confused him, if he was honest; Volvagia was a dragon, and a Chinese one in appearance, too. Feeding him the Zora would have made far more sense. An icky sort of sense that he didn't want to think about, but still. The Gorons were Rocks! Dragons ate fish and stuff, or cows and humans in Europe!)

"Check in the food-pouch, Tsu-nii. There should be a ruby for him to chew on while we're in the Temple." Lambo was at his side again, and he squeaked as his Lightning slipped the Skulltula token into the collection-pouch. He had to have imagined the apparent intent behind that, right?

"'Fanks." His namesake was already chewing on the gem. "Papa went into the Temple. With the Fire Tunic, you can use the secret passage and go and help him. He told me all the stories and killing Volvagia without _that_ -" Goron-Link pointed at the Master Sword, "- s'almost impossible." He exchanges a look with Lambo; that sort of thinking was so Ryohei that it hurt, and was probably why he was playing Darunia. As a reminder that just throwing himself into battle on his own wasn't necessarily a good idea.

"We'll go and help him and the others, but you have to keep yourself safe. Stay hidden away, so we don't have to rescue you, too, 'kay?" Goron-Link nods, solemnly, and he drops down to the bottom level, and Darunia-Ryohei's chambers. He doesn't poke around in them (even if it is tempting; he's really curious about how his namesake came to be) but instead pulls the throne forward to reveal the passageway, and then slips on the Fire Tunic. He raises an eyebrow at Lambo, who skin suddenly shimmers; if he looks at him out of the corner of his eye, he can see the facets of Nayru's Love covering him. "How long can you hold that, Lambo?"

"Long enough to complete the Temple. You and Kyoya are the only ones with restrictions on, I think." That actually made a surprising amount of sense, especially if the idea had been to force Kyoya to actually learn to utilize his Mist Flames the way his Adult-self had been capable of.


	12. Fire Temple 1/2

"Little Animal."

"I don't even rate an 'Omnivore' today, Kyoya-san?" His Cloud is lounging high up on a ledge over the entrance to the Fire Temple, looking as calm and collected as he usually did.

"Hn." He helped Lambo up onto a high ledge of his own and drew his sword, and palmed a Deku-nut. Kyoya's moving oddly stiffly when he jumps down to face him, barely managing to tuck and roll to make the landing safely, and he'd put his blade away, but he knows better than to call Kyoya on an injury if he's still moving. Instead, he concentrates on his footwork, on dancing between tonfa blows, both to avoid Kyoya shattering his ribs again and to allow Lambo to offer 'covering' fire.

He wishes, idly, for a Shield - he hadn't managed to replace the one Kyoya had destroyed, yet - but after their earlier sparring match he knew better than to use anything shy of the Mirror Shield against his Cloud.

It's Lambo who breaks their stalemate, with a carefully aimed shot which was promptly followed by an undignified celebration by his Lightning (which he _completely_ understands). It also results in a fuming Kyoya, who stalks over to him and presses a Mist covered finger to his forehead before vanishing, Lambo's arrow still buried in his side. (The Bolero of Fire is suddenly _there_ , but he's more concerned about his Cloud and whether he's okay.)

«Kufufufu. He's fine, Tsunayoshi. Just sulking and feeling sorry for himself.» And Mukuro was probably enjoying Kyoya's misery. «It is _definitely_ amusing. He's not dealing well with this aspect of being female, which is why I inflicted it on him. Kufufufu.»

Shaking his head, he crosses to the entrance to the Fire Temple and slides down the ladder. Lambo follows him, and he draws his sword when he reaches the bottom; he's shieldless, but there's one nearby (and a Like-Like, which were infuriating enemies). He heads immediately for the right-hand door, shrugging out of the fire tunic - the room is suddenly sweltering hot, uncomfortably so, but he refuses to lose the fire tunic to the damn thing - just before he opens the door. He steps through, and sure enough the Like-Like drops on him, but he grins and tries something he's wanted to do since he started manifesting Flames other than his Sky. He mashes together his fragments of Cloud and Storm, letting one amplify the other, and then pushes the result _out_ , and the Like-Like puffs into non-existence, and he wants to cackle, even as he suddenly feels _exhausted_. A chest drops, and Lambo darts across to open it while he nibbles at a piece of fruit.

It contained the expected shield, and he takes it from his Lightning, fitting it to his left arm and flexing it, checking it balanced in the same way as his previous one. Once he was satisfied that it wasn't going to impede his range of motion, he leads Lambo back to the main room, and up the side of the stairs. He casts Din's Fire at the top, lighting the two torches there, and Lambo lights the third one with the Bow-and-Arrows; it opens one of the doors, and he ducks through with his Lightning close behind him.

Darunia-Ryohei's there, and his Sun sweeps both him and Lambo up and into a bone-crushing hug that has his Lightning casting Nayru's Love, and one of his fairies forcing its way out of the bottle to resurrect him and heal his ribs. "Oniisan, you _really_ need to remember your strength." Ryohei releases him and rubs the back of his head in an amusing mimicry of one of Takeshi's gestures.

"I EXTREMELY forgot, little brother." He sighs and hugs his Sun back. "I also EXTREMELY forgot what I was supposed to tell you."

"Don't worry about it, Oniisan; I know the game's script off by heart." He hesitates and then shakes his head. He may as well ask; the worst that will happen is that Mukuro will herd Ryohei into the Boss Chamber _anyway_. "Come and help Lambo and I rescue the other Gorons; between the three of us, we should be able to deal with the Temple fairly quickly."

«Kufufufu. Nice try, Tsunayoshi. You can add Ryohei-kun to your party _after_ Volvagia» He cursed his Mist in the privacy of his own head, but that didn't stop Mukuro listening in. «Why, I didn't know that was anatomically possible, Tsunayoshi, and with my own trident, even! Would you like to pause the game and _demonstrate_ the technique for me?»

Darunia-Ryohei vanishes in a haze of Mist Flames, and he curses some more, resulting in more laughter from his Mist and a «Promises, promises.» He has a feeling that his next visit to Mukuro's realm was going to be interesting in _several_ meanings of the word. Lambo distracts him from that train of thought with a vicious poke to the side. "Getting distracted in dungeons is _dangerous_ , Tsu-nii. Even I know that!"

"Mukuro and I were having a little conversation, Lambo. And this room is safe enough for now, though we should probably get moving before the Keese take an interest in us." He pulls out his hook-shot, and reinforces his shoulder reflexively - just as well, given Lambo wraps his hand around his swordbelt, and Kami save him, Ryohei was going to dislocate his shoulder if he was going to 'travel' in the same way - and aims at the target on the far platform.

(The hook-shot still aches, but at least nothing tears this time.)

He smashes the crate, revealing the second torch on the platform, and then turns to his Lightning. "I need you to shoot the far torch once I've lit these two, Lambo-kun."

"Lambo-san will. But Lambo-san wants the fire-arrows as soon as Lambo-san can have them." His lips twitch. Technically they could go and get them now, but he wasn't going to tell his Lightning that. He'd much rather get through this dungeon first.

"Three. Two. _Din's fire_." The circle of fire spreads out from his body, glancing off Lambo's Nayru's Love shield, and both torches light. Almost in the same moment, there's an arrow, and his Lightning hadn't been joking about having got his eye in; he makes the shot on the first attempt, and the gate on the far wall opens, revealing a chest. "I'll join you at the room's entrance, Lambo. I'll be with you as soon as I've grabbed the key we need."

His Lightning bounces across to the entrance, and he shakes his head and then has a mental pout when Lambo pulls out something that isn't even supposed to exist in the game. (Apparently, Mukuro hadn't been joking about using the Historia Hyrule as a reference; the Deku Leaf was a WindWaker Weapon.) And jumps off the platform to soar over the lava. He was more than a little jealous, and slightly concerned as to how Mukuro would make him pay for Lambo having that toy. (Though it did also explain why he hadn't felt the need to go and teach the scarecrow a summoning song.) Shaking his head again, he concentrates on working his way around the edge of the room without falling into the lava with the aid of a little surreptitious Cloud Flame use.

(He blames the prodigious leaps he's managing on the sky-borne antics he'd watched the adult version of his Kyoya pull off. It was that Kyoya though who had taught him the true versatility of Cloud Flames; neither he nor his current Kyoya were enough with their Flames to pull some of the stunts Kyoya's older self could in _that_ Future, but his Kyoya was getting closer to achieving the fine control required to multiply individual _atoms_ , and he completely understood why Mukuro wanted Kyoya to turn that sort of focus on his _very_ strong Mist Secondary.)

The key is easy enough to retrieve, and he circles back to where his Lightning is waiting, and Lambo eyes him thoughtfully. "Lambo-san thinks that some people are going to be _very_ surprised by Tsu-nii when we escape the game. Lambo-san wants front row seats to the chaos." He'd ruffle his youngest Guardian's hair, but Lambo was both older and taller than he was right now, so he settles for borrowing one of Xanxus's more Squalo-esque smiles, and opening the door back to the first room again. This time he drops off the platform and Lambo follows suit.

"Concentrate on the Keese once I open the door, Lambo. The game only had four in this room, but Mukuro has been doubling or tripling the number of monsters to make things trickier already, and well, he said he'd adjust the difficulty to account for you joining the adventures." Lambo nods, nocking an arrow to the Bow, and his eyes glowing faintly green. (Oh, this was going to make the Water Temple interesting, if his Lightning was about to make the leap to using his Flames offensively.)

He shouldn't have worried about the Keese (although there were a _lot_ of them, enough that Lambo ran through the majority of the arrows in the quiver, and got quite good with shocking them), but rather the pair of Stalfos glowing faintly blue, and the Rain Officer who was obviously _rapidly_ improving his ability to split his focus, and that skill had the potential to be _terrifying_. He effectively repeats the battle four times, unable to defeat both Stalfos fast enough with them under Squalo's control to beat the room - on the upside, he manages to perfect two more of Shigure Soen Ryuu's forms, but that's a very small silver lining - until he thinks to throw Lambo the bombs and his Lightning grins and starts bowling for Stalfos and Hayato was going to _hiss_ about Lambo using his signature weapons. He doesn't regret it though because there's no way he would have survived Xanxus's Sword-Demon on his own, now that Squalo had mastered splitting his focus. (And watching Takeshi and Squalo face off with döppels would be _funny_!)

He plays the Ocarina for the fairy; he's not sure who would be inhabiting the Iron Knuckle in the next room, or even if someone would be - or if Mukuro would have just increased their number - and shakes out his aches before he opens the next door and finds out what new terror his demon-Mist has devised for him.

He cracks the door, curses, and shuts it immediately, which makes Lambo laugh, and he wishes for his own version of Nayru's Love or failing that his X-burner. One Iron Knuckle had been bad enough in the game. _Four_ was terrifying at this stage in the game. Cursing his Mist again, he checks the number of bombs in the bomb-bag, and the arrows in the quiver, and finds both on the low side, but sufficient if Lambo was careful. "The Iron Knuckles - the metal statues - in the next room aren't going to be affected by the arrows, Lambo-kun. You need to use the bombs, and keep away from them, okay?"

His Lightning nods, and he sheathes his sword in favour of the shield as there would be tiles flinging themselves at him as soon as he steps through the door. The tiles smashing against his shield send almost painful shocks up his arm, and he has to grit his teeth to hold it after the tenth or eleventh hit. By the time the last tile shatters against his Shield all he wants to do is scream and he still has the Iron Knuckles to deal with!

But this wasn't getting them defeated, and his Shield wasn't really robust enough for the Iron Knuckles, so he slings it over his back again, and draws his Sword, pouring his steadily increasing Sun Flames into his aching shoulders and arms, and wakes the first of the Knuckles by getting too close to it. He barely manages to flip back out of the way of its first strike, and Haru was going to tease him and make him practise his gymnastics with her again. (Not that he complained about her doing so anymore; her lessons had more than proved their worth recently.) He rolls out of the way of the second and comes up to make a thrust that rings resoundingly against the metal armour. Unfortunately, it skitters off the shiny metal, and he swears volubly, and in multiple languages. (Between Hayato, Mukuro and Reborn, he'd at least picked up profanities in English and Vulgate Latin and four separate dialects, including Sicilian. He couldn't ask for a glass of water in most of them, but he could swear like a sailor.)

"Remind me to teach you how to swear in _my_ native dialect, Tsu-nii." He sways out of the way of the next blow, and his Lightning laughs, and a second Iron Knuckle springs to life as he gets too close to it. He spends the next few minutes running from both of them, trying to avoid being hit - or activating the remaining two - until Lambo makes a thoughtful sound and lights one of the bombs. "Duck, Tsu-nii."

Lambo pretending to be Hayato was mildly terrifying but apparently very effective. And only got scarier when he reached into the bag and found the bombchus he'd forgotten about, and started to _cackle_. The speed at which the Iron Knuckles were then dispatched was humiliating, and his Storm may potentially have a new apprentice.

He smashes the pots once the battle is done, and grabs the items. There aren't enough swords or bombs, but there _are_ fairies, so he takes the risk of exhausting himself and concentrates on multiplying the arrows in Lambo's quiver. When that doesn't leave him reeling, he gestures for his Lightning to hand him an unlit bomb. This is a bit riskier, but if it works ...

(He's not going to try it on the bombchus; that would be a stupid idea.)

... that _does_ exhaust him, and drags at the sliver of Mist he's still nurturing, too. (Was that because he couldn't see/understand the bombs in the same way as he could the arrows?)

He stumbles sideways, exhausted, and smashes one of the remaining pots with his elbow, and he's _very_ grateful for the fairy that's released. It wipes away the majority of his physical exhaustion, and make it possible for him to peel himself off the floor. His Lightning has his head in his hands, and he ignores the hiccuping laughter coming from the teenager.

"Can you shoot from the Deku-Leaf, Lambo-kun?"

"Maybe? I can certainly try, Tsu-nii, but you'll need to boost me up and into the air. And is there even an updraft to _use_ the Leaf in there?"

"Oh, there is. It's a mini-Boss room, Lambo. There's going to be one or more Flare-Dancers in that room, and a pillar of Flames in the centre." His Lightning grins.

"That _could_ be fun, Tsu-nii."

He opens the door in retort and _shrieks_ and slams it again when he registers how many Flare-Dancers there are in the room. «Have fun, Tsunayoshi.»

"Mukuro, you're a _sadist_."

«So kind of you to notice, Tsunayoshi. Would you like to play with me next weekend? Reborn seems to do an excellent job of inducing masochism in his students, and I want to test how thorough a job he's done with you.» He can feel his cheeks heat, and Lambo laughs and opens the door again.

"Wait until I've hooked their hearts before shooting them, Lambo, and conserve your ammunition."

He picks up his Lightning, and tosses him up into the air - another application of Cloud Flames - and Lambo soars on the Deku-Leaf over the column of Flames. With Lambo out of the way (and possibly in position to snipe or bomb the Dancers, but at the very least not between him and safety) he dives into the spinning chaos of a half dozen Flare Dancers in a room only really intended for _one_ Dancer. He tucks and rolls and pulls out the hook shot, trusting that if he manages to hook the small solid heart of one of the Dancers, Lambo would shoot it from where he was now hovering over the room. (There were too many of them for him to be able to strike at them himself.)

The next forever is spent trying to avoid being hit by the dancers and attempting to hook the dancer's (much smaller than they should be) solid hearts. He aches and is almost out of fairies when the two of them finally succeed in killing all six of the Flare-Dancers, but Lambo is gleeful and delighted, and he barely manages to catch his Lightning as he drops down from he'd been floating over the room. "Oof, Lambo, you've currently got six inches and forty pounds on me; I can't catch you the way I would able to catch your younger self."

His Lightning pouts at him. "Meanie. But I'll try and remember, Tsu-nii. Now, boost me up so I can open that chest and toss your prize down to you." He does, and Lambo drops the Hammer down to him; which is apparently too much for his exhausted state as he fumbles the catch, and drops it on his toes. The last of his fairies escapes its bottle in response to his pain, dancing around him and healing the worst of his exhaustion from the battle, and the overuse of his Cloud, Sun and Rain Flames.

He tiptoes through the next door, mind failing him as to which door he was opening; he sighs in relief when the door reveals a rusty-switch rather than more enemies. The hammer is incredibly heavy, and he leans into his Flames again, reaching for Sun and Cloud to enable himself to wield it (the bracelet helps, a little bit, but it's still far too heavy for him to use easily, and he looks forward to handing it off to his Sun), and hits it. That releases a Goron who murmurs something about aiding Darunia, but then lopes off to escape the Temple. He shakes his head in bemusement, and grabs the dungeon map, relieved to have the layout of the temple in his head again.

Following the Goron, through the door, he'd loped off towards, returns them to the first room in the temple. He rolls his shoulders, experimenting with the Hammer, trying to figure out which combination of Flames would allow him to best wield it.

"As much as Lambo-san wants to continue the Temple right now, Tsu-nii, you're out of fairies, and if Lambo-san is going to be useful, Lambo-san needs more arrows." He's amused, but agrees and pulls out his Ocarina, choosing the Minuet of Forest. There's at least an easily accessible Fairy Grotto there, and if they could find at least one arrow, he could refill the quiver Lambo bore for him.

Mukuro is obviously feeling mildly mischievous, as Lambo lands on him when they re-materialise in the Sacred Meadow. They have to untangle themselves from each other, and he squeaks when certain pieces of anatomy are squished in the process.

Once they've managed that though, the club-Moblin is easy to defeat from the Forest Temple side of the Sacred Meadow; even without any arrows left in his quiver, the hook-shot is sufficient to allow him to kill it. The patrolling spear-Moblin is equally easy to kill with the hook-shot, and he scrambles up the ladder, and down the other one to the grotto opening, with Lambo in tow, and drops through it.

Refilling the four bottles - Mukuro hadn’t returned the one he’d used to contain Reborn-Navi - with fairies is simple, but before he can play the Ocarina, and return them both to the Fire Temple, Lambo tackles him, rolling them both in the warm healing waters of the fountain and sitting on top of him. "Tsu-nii is being ridiculous. Tsu-nii hasn't eaten anything since we went into the Fire Temple; nor has Tsu-nii slept since Mukuro let Lambo-san join Tsu-nii's adventure."

"But the fairies -"

"Self-care." The warmth of the water seeps into his bones, and he relaxes beneath his Lightning. "Tsu-nii, even outside of the game, you were always really bad at looking after yourself at this age, and you got even worse when we all moved to Italy." He can't argue with Lambo, not with the grotto lulling him to sleep with warmth and lack of aches. "If I move, Tsu-nii do you promise to sleep?"

He nods, and his Lightning flops (and splashes) down beside him in the warm water, and he rolls onto his side and uses Lambo as a pillow. One of his Lightning's hands threads itself into his hair, and cards through it gently, and he dozes off to a soft Italian lullaby.


	13. Fire Arrow Interlude

He wakes up slowly, any urgency dulled by the warmth and the lack of aches and pains. They're not in the middle of the grotto anymore, but rather to one side, with Lambo leaning against one of the pillars. "Better, Tsu-nii."

"Mhmm."

"Good. I got Miko to bring more arrows for us, and there's lunch, too. _Then_ we can go back to the Fire Temple and save Turf-Top from the pervert-Pineapple's mischief." He's too amused by how Lambo has slipped into the caretaker role to argue with him, and he even though he doesn't feel hungry, he eats the meal presented. (Which is quite obviously something the Lightning had made; it's delicious but very Italian. And not in the same way that the dishes his Kaasan cooked for Reborn were - or in the way that Hayato's one or two comfort foods were. It was richer and creamier, and he knew that was important somehow.)

Having slept and eaten something, and being in the grotto means that he finally feels more human (or should that be Hylian?) and it's almost startling how much of _all_ of his Flames there are when he looks. He has to try and remember that the pink-red fairies provide health and a little 'stamina'; they don't do anything about Flame exhaustion. He needs one of the fairies that the Song-of-Storms summons if he wants to restore his Flames, or -

"- we need to go to Kakariko Village before we go back to the temple. I want to see if I can buy some potions." Lambo makes a face at him, and he follows the train of thought.

"I'm still going to make you sleep and eat regularly, Tsu-nii. And I'm sure Oniisan will help me with that when we finish the Fire Temple." He has a sudden mental image of his Sun trying to do what Lambo had done to get him to rest, and he shuddered and resolved to try and remember to eat, at least.

He plays the Prelude of Light before his Lightning can give him any more bad mental images, and they rematerialise in the Temple of Light. The pair of them skulk around the edge of the central square of Castle Town, a strategic Song of the Sun freezing the reDead, but he doesn't want to risk the battles with them. At the gate though, he successfully surprises his Lightning by pulling out the Ocarina for a third time in quick succession, playing Epona's Song. She appears, a second horse led by a long-rein trailing her. "We might as well go and get you the fire arrows as well Lambo."

His Lightning bounces and hugs him, and he hugs him back, amused by how happy Lambo was about that. He was d _efinitely_ going to suggest Hayato spent some time training him. (Which would probably result in fireworks, but Lambo had taken to the bow so quickly and was showing such glee in his use of explosives that the two of them could easily turn into a match made in hell, and he was _much_ happier with the idea of Lambo being more than just their physical-damage tank.) Lambo's far more graceful in the saddle than he'd realised before, and his Lightning grinned as they rode side by side. "Lambo-san learned to ride from Tsu-nii and Dino-nii. Getting you to ride is one way to make you relax in the future." There's an undertone to his words that he pointedly ignores, and concentrates on urging Epona towards Lake Hylia.

He grins with delight when instead of baulking and throwing him, Epona soars over the fences separating the Lake from the Field. It's a _glorious_ feeling. (Lambo's horse doesn't manage the leap, separating him and Lambo, and that tugs on his senses harshly. Mukuro had implied he could summon his Guardians using the medallions now embedded under his skin, and he presses a Sky Flame covered thumb to the green medallion carefully. There's a squeak from Lambo's direction, and then he rematerialises next to him, and that was going to be a useful trick if he could use it _strategically_.)

"That felt _weird_." Lambo shivered and then shook himself.

"But useful. You might find me using you as a Hookshot target if you're not careful." His Lightning waves a fist at him. "We need to head out to the Island; we can't get into the Water Temple _yet_ , but to get the Fire Arrows, you need to shoot into the Rising Sun." Lambo raises a sceptical eyebrow at him, and his lips twitch in amusement. "Really. And the Ice Arrows are a Gerudo toy that you may have to discuss possession of with Hayato if he is Nabooru, and the Light Arrows are something you'll have to be nice to Kyoya for."

"Tsu-nii -" Lambo's voice is plaintive, and he allows himself to smile.

"There aren't _supposed_ to be Bomb Arrows or Lightning Arrows in the game, but you seem to have figured out the latter, and Hayato may have figured out the former." That cheers Lambo back up again, and he bounds off towards the lake. He follows a little more slowly and snorts in laughter when his youngest Guardian shocks a set of Keese out of the air. Mukurowl lands on his shoulder and chuffs at him. «You can have the Fire Arrows, Tsunayoshi, but there will be a price.» The owl is heavy on his shoulder and grooming his hair.

"I thought you were supposed to be trapped in the Sacred Realm."

«No one traps me _anywhere_.» His Mist sounds indignant. «And even Xanxus is free to venture out into the wider game world; he just has to behave or be kicked out of the game. He's rather enjoying testing Dino's skills at the moment.» He's not sure he wants to know which set of his older brother's skills were being 'examined'.

"A price?"

«Nothing too onerous. We'll discuss it later. On a lighter note, Reborn is alternating between cursing both of our existences, and having a great deal of fun. He would like to borrow the other Arcobaleno if you're agreeable; he thinks that playing the game will make an excellent bonding exercise for them.»

"Are they even all _in_ Japan?"

«Enough of them are, and they're linked sufficiently that I can pull the ones that aren't in if Mammon agrees to help.»

"They need it."

«Kufufufu. Wish granted, Tsunayoshi; Fran has now taken over from Mammon in antagonising Hayato.» He groans at the implicit confirmation that Hayato was playing Nabooru and then staggers as the portion of his Sky Flames that had been restored drain away again. «Now I suggest you catch up with Lambo-kun before he tries to retrieve the Arrows by himself.» Mukuro launches himself off his shoulder, and he resists the temptation to facepalm and turns towards the Island. He smiles when he realises that Lambo was posing rather dramatically on the Island, bow drawn, ready to fire as soon as the Sun rose. (Which did amuse him because it certainly implied that over the years Lambo had spent enough time around his Mists to pick up some of their more theatrical tendencies.)

Lambo fires just as he arrives on the Island, the timing almost perfect with the Sun rising, and the fire arrows 'poof' into existence on their smaller island.

"Hn." They both whirled around as Kyoya-Sheik drops from the tree, and he curses himself for not looking up. "I want another sparring match, Omnivore."

"For the Serenade of Water, or the Light Arrows, Kyoya." His Cloud nods, and he steels himself, pulling the Master Sword, and reaching for the flames that Mukuro had left for him to use. Sun Flames flow into his muscles and warms him, speeding his reflexes, and the next easiest to reach is Cloud Flames, and if he can do anything with that, it might actually impress his Strongest Guardian.

Kyoya's eyes light, presumedly as he feels him wrap himself in his Flames, and he flips backwards out of the way of the Cloud's first swipe. "Can we take this down into the lake bed, Kyoya? The Island is going to cramp both of our fighting styles."

"No." He swears, taking his Mist and everyone else's names in vain as Kyoya makes a very definite attempt to kill him, and there's nowhere to leap too. On the other hand, he had been speculating about future!Kyoya's techniques earlier, and if there was anything Byakuran's insanity had taught him, it was that he could do almost anything if he set his mind to it. He's been overthinking things again, and all he has to do is _want_. The fragment of Lightning he holds surges too, wrapping around the Cloud Flame and he laughs in delight as he suddenly does have somewhere to leap too, and Kyoya follows him up, eyes lit blue-purple. "Impressive, Omnivore. But how long can you keep it up?"

"Long enough Kyoya." He manoeuvres them out, over the lake, dancing out of the reach of his Cloud's blows, giving himself more room to manoeuvre. He missed his Sky Flames _badly_ ; continuously creating new footholds and leaping to them was rapidly exhausting his meagre reserves and starting to eat into his physical stamina, and for all, it was delightful to be able to move in all three dimensions he couldn't keep this up for very long. (He had to use his Cloud Flames on about four different things at once, and he might have exercised them but not enough to compensate for everything he was trying to do.) He ducked another blow and nearly loses his footing as he had to harden his flesh against a blow that connects and would otherwise have smashed his ulna into tiny fragments. (It still bruises, and he reflexively tries to heal it, but the way the bruise eats at his Sun Flames suggests unpleasant things about tricks Kyoya had had time to devise.)

As much fun as he was having, he couldn't fight Kyoya on equal terms. There was a reason that his Cloud was already known as his Strongest Guardian; despite the fact that he'd had his Cloud limited to stop him breaking the game, Kyoya still had an immensely strong Secondary Flame to utilise. He feints, switching from the Cloud-Lightning trick to the Hookshot, landing him high up in the tree on the Island. And he reaches for the tiny fragment of Sky Mukuro hadn't drained from him to modify the other game, wraps it up with Rain Flames, and pours the entwined Flames into the Master Sword. He waits for his moment; Kyoya obliges by 'porting into the tree alongside him intent on braining him with a tonfa, and he _lunges_.

They both tumble out of the tree; him from an excess of momentum, and Kyoya as the Flames in the Master Sword seemed to have paralysed him, although not physically. He twists, and just about manages both to land his fall, and catch his Cloud, who curls into him - and that was weird; this wasn't the effect that Rain Flames had when Takeshi used them - at least until he burns the Flames he used out of Kyoya's system. Once he has, Kyoya 'ports away, and the peculiar effect of that combination of Flames on both his Wrath and his Cloud was something that he needed to think about.

"That was _awesome_ , Tsu-nii!" He'd almost forgotten that his Lightning was there in the intensity of the fight with Kyoya. "And look -" he blinks when he realises that Lambo is holding up a pair of frozen arrows, "- Kyoya left one, and I got the other while you were playing with him."

He's exhausted but can't help smiling at Lambo as he takes the frozen fire arrow from him and hisses as it melts into his hand, and the framework for the Mist-Flame based enchantment to use them imprinted itself in his brain. It was three parts Zero-Point (and he was somewhat terrified that Mukuro knew as much as he appeared to know about how that worked), one part Storm Flames and two parts Misty 'this will work, or _else_ , and he was going to be so exhausted making these, let alone the Light Arrows. "Give me the other one, Lambo-kun."

He's right; there's no way he can make more than half a dozen of the 'Fire' Arrows, or perhaps one Light Arrow right now. The enchantment that burns itself into his brain is damn close to being an X-burner, but contained in zero-point and stabilised with Mist Flames. And grossly overpowered because Mukuro's understanding of the X-burner was imperfect.

"Choose. One Light Arrow, or six Fire Arrows?" His Lightning pouts at him, obviously having been hoping for a dozen or more of each. "I'm serious, Lambo. Mukuro's fueling the game _and_ the one Reborn's trapped in from my Flames, and he used zero-point ice to make the Arrows work in the system he set up. And, well, Kyoya."

Lambo pulls a face. "Fire Arrows, then, Tsu-nii. But I need a whole quiver of Light Arrows for the Shadow Temple." He completely got why. He wasn't looking forward to the Shadow Temple at all, and hmm. What would happen if Lambo hit one of the Varia Officers with a Light Arrow? Would it force the 'possession' to end? (Oh, he hoped so. The 'Varia' versions of the Bosses and mini-Bosses were so much harder to deal with than the computer versions. If it did, it would make the nauseating exhaustion worthwhile.)

He holds a hand out for an arrow, and when Lambo puts one in it, he concentrates, coaxing the tiny flickering ember of Sky Flames to life, feeding it his determination and the remainder of the Cloud Flames he had left, and shaped it with Mist, wrapping it around a spark of Storm, and forced it into the shaft of the arrow. One arrow wasn't too bad, but he could feel the small but non-negligible drain on his Flames, and he manages four more before he's wobbling on his feet, and fuck-it, if he's going to pass out anyway, he may as well try producing a Light Arrow, too.

"Oh, Tsu-nii." The world's all sorts of fuzzy, and he protests the way it spins around him, even as Lambo scoops him up. The world goes shaky on him, and he recognises the Lightning-tinged Farore's Wind and oh, that made sense. "Shamal, come help me with my idiot Sky, you old pervert."

"Che. Why should I, brat?" He flares his Flames weakly, which makes him feel even worse, but it does make his Lightning and his doctor stop bitching at each other. Four hands lift him, up onto a bed, and then he's spluttering through a blue potion being poured down his throat.

"Shamal, your bedside manner _sucks_." He coughs, body objecting to the blue potion that had ended up in his lungs.

"And you've still got a cock, so why you expect bedside manners from me, I do not know." He wants to roll his eyes at Shamal, but the man was honest about his preferences, and actually a good doctor when he chose to be, moderating his routine to his patient's responses. "I've been getting on far better with your grumpy Cloud and pretty senpai; they've even been helping with my 'research'. And you're going to enjoy catching up with my baby cousin; he's really embraced his role."

"I'm not sure I want to know." He sits up, his body now feeling far more functional, and fishes out the four bottles from his pocket - Mukuro had never returned the fifth after the Reborn-Navi incident - and lines them up on the edge of the bed. "Can I have four blue potions to take into the Fire Temple with me? Or failing that, three green potions?"

"That'll be four hundred rupees, and I'll take those fairies off your hands; I want to try some experiments." He empties his purse, and Shamal disappears with the bottles into the back room.

"Tsu-nii -"

"'With my Dying Will', Lambo." His Lightning snaps his mouth shut, looking thoughtful, and before Lambo can say anything more, Shamal returns cradling _six_ bottles full of Blue Potion.

"I had two spare bottles, brat, and you gave me _500_ rupees and three fairies, so I threw them in." The man's tone was defensive, and he bit his cheek rather than smile. Shamal didn't like having his inclusion in his Harmony pointed out. He stretches and reaches for the sword that's well on the way to being an extension of his self the way his gloves or Natsu were. "Now get out of my shop; I'm expecting company soon, and I'm not into a ménage à trois with other cocks."

He snorts and pulls the Ocarina out, playing the Bolero of Fire; the Mist Flames it calls up pull both him and Lambo back into the Volcano and the game's main storyline.


	14. Fire Temple 2/2

The wave of heat hits him like a wall, and he staggers breathless for a moment while he waits for the Fire Tunic's effect to kick in. «Kufufufu. Do enjoy the rest of the Temple, Tsunayoshi; Fran worked around my restrictions on the game, and I'm too busy to kick them out. Reborn and the others are testing the limits of their games, and I need to pay attention.» He groans, slips the ocarina back into his pocket and pulled the Goron Hammer out of the odd pocket that allowed him to carry extra weapons. "This is only going to get worse, Lambo-kun. I need you to husband those arrows I made for you, okay? And keep yourself safe."

His Lightning nods and pulls the Bow off his back. "Understood, Tsu-nii." The Goron Hammer is awkward; it was exerting a slow, steady drain on his Flames as he needed to increase his strength to manage it's weight when it wasn't 'stored'. Sliding down the ladder was tricky with it unbalancing him, but he needs to get used to wielding it. It was the only thing that would work on Volvagia, and if one of the Varia was loose in the temple, likely others too.

Lambo follows him up the narrow edge of the stairs, avoiding the fire, and he eyes the totem poles. The one at the west end looks slightly off, and he smashes it with the hammer, revealing a door that he slips through, holding it open for his Lightning. He looks around a room that feels familiar and spots the unlit torch. "Lambo?"

"On it." The fire arrow soars over the room, and when it hits, several Hookshot targets rise across the room. (He might have been able to create his own footholds, but he didn't want to run through the potions too fast, not with what Mukuro's words implied could be ahead of him.) He throws a bomb at the doorframe and slips through the door revealed, to find a pair of unlit torches, and an imprisoned Goron. (And really, this scheme made almost no sense in some ways; would the Lizalfos take each Goron to Volvagia's cave in turn, as the dragon was trapped?) He's easy enough to free with Din's Fire, and he returns to Lambo and the main chamber again, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"There are two more unlit torches, Lambo. Can you hit them from here?" His Lightning bites his tongue, thoughtfully, and nocks an arrow.

"Let's find out." The answer is yes, though he suspects that he wouldn't have been able to, and Lambo follows them both up with Fire Arrows. The torches _should_ just open a barred door across the chamber, allowing him to rescue another Goron, but he can feel Fran's flames swirling in the room, and as well as the door opening a single Flare-Dancer appears. A very sunny Flare-Dancer, moving a _lot_ faster than the one in the mini-Boss chamber had.

"You-hoo, catch me if you can, baby-Boss!" And that voice was Lussuria's which explained how quickly the Flare Dancer moved. (He remembered the okama's fight with Ryohei and the blindingly fast speeds Lussuria had achieved.) He doesn't quite leap out of the Dancer's way fast enough, and he staggers as the weight of the hammer vanishes from his back. "One of the monsters in this temple reminded me of an old skill set. It's been years since I had a chance to practise my pick-pocketing and, well, this -" the Flare-Dancer hefts the hammer they've just stolen, "- is a pretty toy, and designed for my Flame-type, too."

The next forever is a brutal game of chase with a few near misses that could have easily ended in severe concussions; he's only grateful that the Varia no longer wish to kill him, and were bound by one of Mukuro and Mammon's contracts to _train_ him.

"You're doing _very_ well, sweetheart. And you're not my type, for all your Sun Flames are coming along very nicely." Lussuria, circles, flames green-tinged, just out of reach, and he palms the Hookshot, waiting for his moment. "I wonder if you were naturally Sunny, or if Reborn is responsible, given your very pretty senpai." He twitches, his rapidly strengthening Cloud Flames flaring. He funnels the flare into extending the Hookshot's reach far further than he should have been able to, capturing the core of the Dancer, and he takes a great deal of pleasure in it with a Rain-covered blade. "We were having such fun, sweetheart; was that really necessary? Never mind, we'll play more, later. Perhaps I'll go and join Xanxus's current game ..." Lussuria's voice trails off as the Flare-Dancer explodes, and he twitches, Flames burning hotter yet at the implications. (The after blast leaves him with the equivalent of half-a-heart, but given he was going to need the blue potion anyway, he doesn't give a flying fuck.)

Lambo latches onto him, hugging him viciously as he swigs down one of the Blue Potions and sighs in relief as all the aches and pains and exhaustion fades almost immediately. "I see what Tsu-nii meant earlier. Lambo-san will be good."

"Appreciated, Lambo-kun." He hugs him back and then slings the Goron Hammer over his back and heads for the newly opened door. In order to release another Goron, and he collects the Golden Skulltula token anyway. (He'll use Cloud Flames on it later so he can get the easy rupee refill; he suspected he'd need it for Blue Potions with the Varia playing the game so aggressively.) He returns to the main room and uses the Hookshot to get up to the platform above his current one (even if he could just jump, the Hookshot was easier on his Flames) where there's another door.

He slams the door shut again, barely avoiding the flying tiles and curses, because goddamn it, he hated those things. «Kufufufu. Given I was bred as a lab rat, I have no idea about either parent's lineages, Tsunayoshi. I thought you'd be amused to know that our Skylark has far more in common with his grandfather than he probably wants to acknowledge.» He slides down the wall, giggling hysterically at the mental image Mukuro had just given him. «I damped their Flames, so Fon's even using tonfas and muttering about biting the zombies to death.»

"Tsu-nii?"

"Fon. Behaving like Kyoya." His Lightning giggles, too. "The game I had Mukuro put Reborn in is full of monsters like the ones in the Castle Town ruins, and their Flames are suppressed." He manages to get his breathing back under control again. "Apologies for the cursing, Mukuro."

«Apology accepted, providing we get to play some more games. I'm rather enjoying being a de facto deity, Tsunayoshi.» Of course, his Mist was enjoying the power. Perhaps Mukuro would make a good Mewtwo if they were to play Pokemon. «How did you guess who I intended to insert myself as, Tsunayoshi? And I agree that your puppy would make a _very_ good Eevee.»

He shakes his head, and his Mist takes the hint. "Tsu-nii, why don't you try using some of your Lightning to harden yourself against the tiles? I saw how much they hurt you earlier." Lambo had a point, and he tries imbuing his shield with them. It takes them so easily he kicks himself for not thinking of it earlier, and he opens the door warily. The tiles still leave his arm aching from the repetitive hits, but more 'dull bruise' than 'broken bone', which is an improvement, and he can Hookshot to the Boss Key Chest without wincing in pain.

He rolls his shoulders and carefully tucks the Key away on the chain around his neck; he doesn't trust Lussuria not to steal it like he had the Hammer and make him fight to get it back again. There's one more locked door in the previous room, and he makes a beeline for it, trusting that Lambo will keep up with him. His Lightning soars up to the upper room using the Deku-Leaf and the updraft from the fire trap, while he uses the Hookshot to climb up the fence to reach the top of one of the columns. "You're a slowpoke, Tsu-nii!" Lambo sticks out his tongue at him and darts through the next door; by the time he's caught up with him, the torch is already lit, and he uses the Hookshot target to reach the top ahead of the Lightning.

Which is just as well because there's a pair of Lizalfos waiting at the top, and he hates his life because their weapons made it clear who was inhabiting the two monsters, and he was sorely tempted to scream. "Lambo, be careful. I've got Squalo and Belphegor up here."

"Voooiii!" He ducks Squalo's lunge, and fuckity-fuck-fuck, Fran really had figured out how to manipulate the game. «Of course he did. I trained him after all. And he and Haru sent me popcorn and promised to entertain me if I let him play.» He does scream at that, and barely avoids getting skewered by Squalo's second lunge, because the idea of _Haru_ as Xanxus's Lightning instead of Levi was _terrifying_.

"Shishishi. The Prince wants roast Hylian for lunch!" He exchanged a look with Squalo's Lizalfos and the Rain dropped back allowing him to concentrate on not being turned into a shish-kebob by his Wrath's crazy Storm.

"I didn't realise you were into cannibalism, Belphegor."

"Shishishi. Hylians are this form's natural prey, and if the baby-Sky can't keep the Prince from slicing him up, then the Prince will enjoy eating the Prince's kill." He circles out of Belphegor's immediate range only to discover that the Prince was almost as much of a Cloud as he was a Storm, and he wanted to see what would happen if he and Kyoya set their minds to fighting 'properly'. And that the blades Xanxus's Storm were throwing around _hurt_ ; they were laced with Storm Flames that were trying to eat away at the flesh they were embedded in.

Fortunately, they also seemed to be provoking a reaction from his Flames, and he was confused and didn't have enough mental space to work out what was going on with the way Belphegor was throwing knives at him. He was having to work flat-out to avoid a rather ignominious skewering on the rapidly multiplying blades. «I'm definitely going to have to encourage Fran in his little collaboration with your mischevious secondary Lightning, Tsunayoshi. She's good for him.»

(Normally he'd have expected Sun Flames to be what responded to the kind of wounds Xanxus's demon prince had inflicted on him, but no, it was that same odd mix of Rain and Sky that were soothing the wounds, while his own small fragment of Storm disintegrated the blades.)

Their fight is cut short by Lambo using the one Light Arrow he'd created; the brilliant flare of orange light leaving the Lizalfos that Belphegor had been 'riding' stunned. He doesn't wait to find out how long the effect will last though; he wants this fight over without any more Storm Flame imbued knives being embedded in his flesh. He'd take Squalo laughing at him over the burning and highly unpleasant sensation of being wounded by Belphegor's weapon of choice.

"Voooiii. Cow-brat hit me with one of those, and I'll pay the Mist Miser to confiscate _all_ of your Grape Candy." His Lightning salutes the Squalo-Lizalfos and slings his Bow over his body.

"So cruel, Squa-nii." He goggles at the diminutive Lambo had just used and the relationship that implied he had with the Varia in the future. (He'd thought they had a good relationship now, with Xanxus not trying to kill him, and he and his Officers willing to train him. A familial relationship though?!) "Lambo-san promises he won't interfere, providing Squa-nii promises to teach rather than torture."

"Tsch." He ducks the next thrust and finds himself falling into the forms of Shigure Soen Ryuu his own Rain had shared with him. It's strangely hypnotic and calming, and the Rain Officer seems mostly amused by his attempt to fight properly. "Not bad, brat. Still slow, and under-practised, but getting there." The wave of water was not unexpected (for all they were in a Volcano), but still left him spluttering and drenched, and he barely rolls out of the way of the finishing blow. He loses his grip on the Master Sword - feels it rematerialise in its sheath - and catches Squalo's blade in Lightning Flame reinforced hands and jerks it free. "Nice trick, brat. But won't work in our native forms; my sword is integral."

He didn't need it to. It was enough that it worked now. (Would Squalo be playing Dark Link, later, or would Mukuro clone him?) An arrow finishes Squalo off before either of them could reach for their swords, and he gets an armful of his Lightning. "Squa-nii was about to be mean. Now c'mon, we've got to be nearly done. We've had Luss-nee and Squa-nii and Bel-sama, and the Pineapple-Pervert said Xan-nii was elsewhere, and Fran-kun is being like the Pineapple, which means there's just the Xan-nii's mean not-Lightning and -" Lambo cuts himself off, and there's a secret there, and he's not sure whether to tickle it out of Lambo or not.

His head is throbbing, and he probably should take a Blue Potion anyway. "Give me a couple of Arrows, first, Lambo-kun. I may as well charge them up for you before we move on." He manages four Fire Arrows and three Light Arrows before he's dizzy with the drain on his Flames this time and has to stop. (He was going to miss Blue Potions in the 'real' world.)

For all the next room was a headache when he normally played the game (he'd never bothered to memorise the Lizalfos patrol routes) it was a lot more predictable than he'd expected. (Perhaps it was a side effect of having his intuition to lean on; he'd not tested it to see if it would work on an actual video game.) At least the 'normal' Lizalfos were easy to read; a pair of mook-controlled Lizalfos sneak up on him successfully, and that was just _embarrassing_ , even if they were easy to dispatch.

(Their reflexes were too slow to dodge the Hookshot, and he took a great deal of delight in stabbing them. Reborn would probably approve of how willing he was to resolve the issue with a weapon, but he wasn't sure that his tutor would understand _why_ it was so easy to do within the game. Or perhaps he would, given that he'd been thrown into his own 'adventure'.)

He slipped around the edge of the large room, Lambo trailing behind him Bow at the ready to fire at any Lizalfos that manage to sneak up on them. (His Lightning manages to pick off four non-possessed Lizalfos, and he suspects that his Lightning was using his Flames on the non-enspelled Arrows.) There were at least two bombable walls he needed to find, and the first one _should_ be just around the next corner.

It was, and he squeaked when a rather robust Skulltula dropped from the ceiling. He'd completely forgotten about its presence, and he yelped and backflipped away from it. It wasn't possessed - at least he didn't think it was - but it was hardened and a little more self-aware than he'd expected. It took several careful swipes, and an opportunistic Fire Arrow from Lambo to kill it. There was a rusty switch at the back of the alcove, and he winced and pulled the Goron Hammer out. He smacked the switch, using his Flames to amplify the hit enough to actually Activate it.

There's the grinding sound of a number of Hookshot targets rise from the recesses they'd been hidden in. He makes use of two of them to get up to the top of the columns, and Lambo makes an amused sound, and that was not how the Deku-Leaf was supposed to work. That was more like the hang-glider in the new game, and why was he overthinking things when Mukuro had skewed things to make the game work despite the presence of his Guardians? Now somewhere around here, there was a bombable/smashable surface, and the Compass was under it. (Which would be useful because he wasn't getting into Volvagia's cavern until he freed all the Gorons.)

He still screws up with the smashable floor; he always messes it up in the game, and he's not surprised it happens now. He at least manages to tuck and roll, rather than shattering his shins, and he slams into the crates, which was a bonus, as that revealed the switch he needed to smash. (His Lightning had chosen to sit on the edge of the hole he'd made, and was giggling at him.) He's still a little bit dizzy when he hits the switch, and has to lean against the Chest that it reveals while the fragments of Sun and Mist Flames that he held healed the mild concussion he'd just suffered. (There was a reason that he kept bombing and burning the crates rather than headbutting them. He wasn't stupid; there was a reason why Ryohei was like he was.)

When the dizziness and slight nausea had vanished, he climbed back up again and resists the temptation to tickle his Lightning.

The next switch he needs to hit has him frowning at the bombs and wishing for Hayato. As far as he could tell, he needed one of them to explode in mid-air, and he didn't trust that he'd manage it (it had certainly been a problem when he played the game when it was 'just' a video game). But there had always been the ability to 'glitch' Bomb Arrows in the earlier games, and they'd been added as an actual weapon in the newest game, so -

"Lambo, I need a Bomb and an Arrow." Mukuro had used zero-point Flames to create the Light and Fire Arrows, and he thought he had an idea of how to combine that with one of the Bombs and an Arrow to make a missile of sorts. Perhaps with some Sun Flames to make the bomb detonate at the right moment. He sits down on the edge of one of the pillars and concentrates, hard, letting his intuition guide his hands and Flames.

The result is probably over-engineered, and the drain on him to produce it was significantly worse than the 'spells' Mukuro had gifted to him, but it did the job when Lambo fired it, activating the switch and he jumped across to the now open alcove and smashed the crate open with the Goron hammer, and replenished his bomb supply. There was also a set of small boxes in the alcove, and he carefully picked one of them up and trusted his Lightning to cover him as he made a run for the North end of the room, and the smashable wall there.

Beneath the smashable wall, there was a blue switch, and he almost facepalms as he realises that he could have just gotten Lambo to stand on it. He'll try and remember that; but for now, he just needed to grab the small key. (The Goron was already loping off towards the exit, and he allowed him to without trying to engage him in conversation. And his brain went off down a rabbit hole and started speculating as to whether they actually had gender; he'd used the male pronoun by default, but there was no recognisable difference.)

He manages to drag his attention back the present 'dangers' by the time he reaches where Lambo was waiting, patiently, for him. His Lightning snorts at his distracted expression and just follows him using the Deku Leaf as he uses the Hookshot to work his way north across the room, and through one of the few remaining doors, he needed to slip through. There's a barred door in the next room, and he has to pause there and puzzle out how to open it; he suspects this was one of the switches that normally Navi would reveal. «It is indeed, Tsunayoshi. I'd try the face if I were you.»

Mukuro's confirmation was a relief. It also distracted him long enough for the torch-slugs to set fire to his pants, and he shook his fist at his Mist and ignored Lambo's giggles as he killed them, and then beat the flames out. There was only a Gold Skulltula in the room (he'd thought there was another Goron up there), and he dropped back down into the room below, and Lambo spiralled after him with the Deku-Leaf.

He shut his eyes and brought the mental Dungeon Map up. There had to be at least one door he hadn't opened yet; he still needed to knock the pillar into place so he could actually get into Volvagia's cavern. There was, and he headed to the northeast corner of the room and the locked door and opened it. The room was a confusing mix of fencing and fire and moving platforms, and at least this time he remembers that he can use Lambo to operate the switch.

And finally. There was the pillar, which meant that he could knock it loose and drop down to the entrance to Volvagia's den was. (Which he was going to do. He was ready for this Temple to be done and he didn't need the Gold Skulltula tokens as he could just multiply them if he really needed to.) "Ready to play whack-a-mole, Lambo-kun?"

He drops through the hole and reinforces his legs just in time to avoid shattering them because Mukuro was a troll. «It's only taken you what, eighteen months to realise that Tsunayoshi?» He shakes his head and watches Lambo spiral down. He needed to check that Lambo had enough ammunition to contribute to the battle, and he wanted to be sure that he had enough Flames to wield the Goron Hammer for a sustained period of time. Fire Arrows weren't going to do very much good against a Boss-Level monster, especially one inhabited by a Varia Officer, so he poured everything he had into making more Bomb Arrows. (Three Light Arrows would _have_ to be enough for a Boss, right?)

He took a swig of Blue Potions when his head started to throb in pain from the overuse of his Flames. Lambo takes the last Bomb Arrow from him, and he tucks the bottle away and draws the Goron Hammer. "I need you to stay away from Volvagia, please, Lambo. I need to know that you aren't going to get batted into the Lava, even if you will survive it."

His Lightning pouts at him and bounces on his toes. "Lambo-san promises." He chooses to ignore the crossed-fingers for his own sanity and lets himself into Volvagia Cavern. And shrieks as instead of just a single dragon emerges from the whack-a-mole grid. The three of them writhe together, a complicated knot, and he takes the name of his Mist, his Wrath and Primo in vain using every curse he can think of as the Lightning crackles over the dragons' flanks. He turns his head just enough to see Lambo soaring over the Lava, well out of the way of the Dragon heads that were now snapping at him, and prepares to throw himself into battle. «Kufufufu. This is going to be amusing.»

He keeps shrieking and cursing as he dodges between the striking heads. How the hell was he supposed to manage to kill _three_ dragons without getting eaten? One was bad enough when he played the game!

"Tsu-nii!" The shout of warning had him transfixed as Lambo released the leaf long enough to draw and fire a Light Arrow at one of the heads and it connected, and then his Lightning soared back high into the air on the thermal updraft. He smashed the stunned dragon as many times as he could while the other dragons lunged at his Lightning - who was moving far faster than they could, and he hated allowing Lambo to do that but he did have Nayru's Love - and stabbed it through the roof of its mouth with the Master Sword and channeled _everything_ that he had through it. He finds himself flung - without the Master Sword - to the edge of the platform and barely avoids dropping into the Lava. The two remaining Dragons _roar_ and leave their pursuit of his Lightning to come back to attack him.

He's actually flamed by one of the pair, which leaves him shrieking and in the sort of pain he only vaguely remembers from the fight with Byakuran, and he desperately drinks some of the Blue Potion. It eases the pain, and he swings the Hammer desperately again, scraping up every scrap of Storm he could reach for, and the flare of Flames as it connects with one of the two remaining Volvagias reminds him of his Wrath's, but he's too busy trying to survive to think on that. A Bomb Arrow comes scorching in while he's dodging the snapping jaws of the one he hadn't Wrath'd (if it looked like a Rose and smelled like a Rose, it was a Rose, damnit) and the explosion nearly throws him off the platform, too.

The Master Sword, painfully hot, rematerialises in his hand, and he stabs it into the head of the one he'd smashed with the be-Wrath'd Flames and is relieved when it disintegrates too, leaving him with a single, far more vicious incarnation of his Wrath's current Lightning. (Levi scared him in ways that Lussuria and Belphegor didn't; it was the blind obedience and what that could lead to. Obedience was expected. Fanaticism was quietly disapproved of, and he knew that disapproval was even stronger in Europe; Reborn had been quite clear on that, and the whys.)

The resulting game of whack-a-mole is played at speed, and with aggression far beyond that which Volvagia normally showed, and the two attempts to shoot Levi with bespelled Arrows were simply shaken off, the Lightning Flames hardening his hide to impossible strength and he was flagging given the way he'd killed the second Volvagia, and he rolled out of the way of another lunge and came up taking another swig of Blue Potion and what the hell was he supposed to do with a Boss-monster that was immune to damage, and goddamn it how effective would Levi be if he could just stop and think rather than blindly reacting?

It takes more of his version of Wrath-Flames - he was going to have to pin Xanxus down (not literally!) and discuss how to use them more effectively - to get through Levi's hide. When he manages _that_ , Lambo fires his third and final Light Arrow at the dragon, and he lunges and stabs and falls forward into one of the small lava pits as Volvagia disintegrates. «Mmm. Well done, Tsunayoshi. I'm going to pull Levi from the game entirely; Fran's trying his hand at being a matchmaker, and his idea is far too amusing not to let him experiment.»

He doesn't want to know. He's more interested in soothing the burns he just got from the lava pit, and checking that Lambo is okay, and reaching the heart-container. (And reaching Ryohei. Plus Mukuro would be there in person to laugh at him.)

The heart-container still tasted just like strawberry candy, and he giggled, sounding a little too like Belphegor for comfort. Lambo facepalmed and then herded him through the portal to the Sacred Realm. Ryohei-Darunia and Mukuro are both waiting for them, and he finds himself caught up in a hug by Ryohei, who hugs him so hard his ribs creak, and it's only the fact that Mukuro's there and is intent on teasing him that keeps him from turning into a smushed Hylian. "Kufufufu. Did you enjoy that challenge, Tsunayoshi?"


	15. Ice Cavern

"Actually, I did." His response seems to surprise his Mist, and Ryohei puts him down, carefully. "Though _three_ copies of the Boss for the Temple was a _little_ excessive, Mukuro. Especially given I could 'feel' that was your stunt, not Fran's."

Mukuro pouts at him, and all he wants to do is facepalm; what had he done to deserve this? "You were very EXTREME, little brother."

He still has the Goron Hammer in hand, and he grins. "I think this is yours for the rest of the game, Oniisan. You get to join in, now -" he fixes his Mist with a glare, "- doesn't he, Mukuro?"

"That was the plan, Tsunayoshi." Mukuro stretched, in faux casualness, and spread a magnificent set of wings before tilting his head and then laughing. "Don't forget to give him your medallion."

The Sacred Realm dissolved back into the 'real' world, dropping the three of them into the Temple of Light. «Kufufufu. I thought you might like an update on how your tutor is doing, Tsunayoshi; he's currently in a state of confusion because some of his actions have come back to haunt him, and he rather objects to the fact that no one told him that actions have consequences for some reason.» He's not sure whether to be thankful for the lack of detail or irritated. «Lal Mirch and Colonello are definitely enjoying themselves for a number of reasons, and she's willing to help trap your sperm-donor in a game, as long as she doesn't have to be on his side.»

"EXTREME!" The exclamation - along with a number of thumps and crashes - came from outside the Temple and he realised with a start that Ryohei and Lambo had bounced off without him; he chases after them both. The sight that greets him when he makes it to the square has him leaning against one of the ruined buildings and laughing. Ryohei was rolling around the fountain in a similar fashion to Goron-Link, smashing into the reDeads and it was _delightful_ to watch. «Kufufufu. I thought that might amuse you.»

He lets Ryohei have his fun, sidestepping the two or three reDead thrown in his direction, and worked his way round to where Lambo was also watching in amusement. Ryohei crashed to a halt and sprang back upright, grinning. "That was EXTREMELY fun, little brother."

"It was extremely fun to watch, too, Oniisan, but we need to start the process of rescuing Takeshi now." This was going to be funny, and he wondered, whether the Magic Leaf would support all three of them on the ride up to Zora's Domain, or if Ryohei would have another way of reaching the top of the river. He leads the two of them back out onto the Field and summons Epona, who brings Lambo's horse with her, too. "I think you're going to need to roll to keep up with us, Oniisan -" he shakes his head and boosts Lambo up into his saddle when he realises that Ryoehi's already shot off, ricocheting into the river, and rolling around the first bend. (There was steam rising from the water, and his Sun was travelling against the current, but it seemed to be working, and his Mist's logic made no sense, so ...)

"This is going to get silly, Tsu-nii." He couldn't agree more and urged Epona into a canter. It wasn't very far to the entrance to Zora's River, but he was going to miss Epona when he finished the game and was determined to take every opportunity to ride her while he still could.

They arrive at the entrance to the river, only to both get soaked to the skin by Ryohei, as they dismounted their horses and he ricocheted off the wall to continue up towards Zora's Domain, and that had so much potential for within the Fountain and the Water Temple. (Could Ryohei roll around 'inside' Morpha, doing damage that way, or would he be restricted to the outer limits of the chamber? And if Mukuro had pulled Levi from the game, who would be playing the Boss?)

He's still contemplating that issue as Lambo crowds with him onto the Magic Bean Leaf, his Lightning crowding _very_ close as it took to the air, hands looped around his belt and he unequipped his Shield to make this just a little bit more comfortable. The Leaf's path offers them an almost perfect bird's eye view of the havoc that Ryohei was causing on the way up to Zora's Domain, and he wonders whether there would be Blue Fire to melt the Red Ice, or if he was going to be getting a _lot_ of practice at undoing Zero-Point.

«Kufufufu. I hadn't thought of that. Excuse me while I tweak things; the two fools do rather like their 'special' attack and reflexively shaking it off would be a _very_ useful_ skill.» He really did need to remember that Mukuro was _inside his head_ and that giving him ideas led to bad things happening. His groan has Lambo hugging him in concern, and he luxuriates in it. "What did the Pineapple-Pervert do _this_ time, Tsu-nii?"

"I thought too loudly, and he decided that what I was speculating about was an even better idea than his original plan." He only had a tiny fragment of his Sky available to him; how was he supposed to undo Zero-Point Ice with _that_? The stuff held up against Xanxus's Rage, and the only version of it he'd _ever_ successfully melted had been that that _he'd_ made in the first place! (Reborn had thought it funny to trick him into freezing his homework, and Kyoya had been on a rampage about standards, and he hadn't wanted to die at his Cloud's hands _again_.)

There's a reverberating thud just before they reach the top (Ryohei had sped past them, and he wasn't surprised that stopping involved crashing), and Lambo laughed. "That was such a Ryohei stunt. There's a reason we don't let him drive motor vehicles, Tsu-nii." He shakes his head and jumps down from the Magic Bean Leaf at the bottom of the last stretch before they got to Zora's Domain. He also did a double-take at how easily Ryohei was climbing up the damp rock wall. (He probably shouldn't have been surprised, given the Gorons' nature that he seemed to be able to find footholds on a slippery and sheer wall.)

The gateway to Zora's Domain was barred once more, and he was not looking forward to this. At least the Gorons hadn't been encased in zero-point ice. (If Mukuro truly had gotten it right - he shuddered. Xanxus's expression when he'd used it on him during the Ring Battles had _horrified_ him, and at least some of the Zora - namely the Prince(ss), King and the Waterfall Guard - had been actual people.) But he played 'Kyoya's' lullaby anyway, and the barred gateway opened; the inside of the Domain was breath-taking its beauty and its horror. All of the ice had the vicious hunger of zero-point, and Mukuro was laughing in the back of his head.

Ignoring Lambo and Ryohei - who both chased after him - he ran through the Domain, intent on the Royal chambers, not wanting to leave the Zora King frozen a moment longer, just in case it was, in fact, Tsuyoshi frozen within the ice. He pressed his hands to the Red Ice, and he doesn't care how much it costs him or how much this hurts, he _refuses_ to allow anyone that he claims as his to suffer within something like this _ever_ again.

The ice tries to take _everything_ he has from him, starting with the fragment of Sky he has left, but something clicks in his head; the fragment of Cloud he held surges, wrapping itself around his Sky and bolstering it. He still drops to his knees and is left panting, head rested against the King's side, but he manages it. The King doesn't move, but then the dark, warm ocean of Tsuyoshi's Flames pours back into the avatar "Silly boy. You didn't need to drain yourself like that; I was safely outside the Game. But thank you for proving me right about being a good Sky to my son." He's pulled into a hug, and Lambo and Ryohei join it after a few moments, barely avoiding crushing him against Tsuyoshi's side. "Now go and smash your way through the Ice Cavern and retrieve my ridiculous son from his current predicament; he's enjoying it far too much. I'll have dinner for you when you're done with the Cavern; do try and bring your terrifying Cloud with you."

That would depend on Kyoya, but given the number of times he'd seen the older teen eating in Takesushi, in a booth at the back of the restaurant, he suspected that he _might_ be willing to join them for sushi. He slipped out of the hug reluctantly, taking a swig of Blue Potion to restore his Flames, settling his sword back in place, and trusted that Ryohei and Lambo would follow him into the dark passage.

The Fountain is brilliantly lit, and the absence of Jabu-Jabu a stark reminder of how much had changed; as were the ice platforms, and he scowled when Lambo bounced past him and took to the air with the Deku-Leaf, and Ryohei just rolled down into the lake-bed. He hops across the small ice platforms, hating the way he skidded around - thank heavens that the Iron Boots would help with that - and ducks the Octoroks 'rounds' as he heads directly for the Ice Cavern. He catches sight of Lambo touching down on one of the smaller ice-floes, but doesn't quite register why his Lightning might be doing that, and ignored the muffled thuds and EXTREME!s coming from underwater.

By the time he scrabbles up into the entrance to Ice Cavern, Lambo and Ryohei are both there, both holding a heart quarter each and grinning at him, and he does a facepalm. He takes both quarters, and feels himself perk up a little bit; presumedly he'd completed another heart container and received a boost like that which he got from the Boss Hearts.

He squeaks in horror as he realises just how different this version of the Cavern is; the giant boulder was completely unexpected, and it was only Ryohei's quick reactions that saved him from getting squished beneath the rolling boulder. "Let me EXTREMELY lead the way, little bro."

Ryohei shouldered his way up the corridor, and it was delightful watching him punch the boulders; they had been such a nightmare when he'd stolen the Kokori sword, that watching them shatter courtesy of a single punch from his Sun was _amazing_. «Kufufufu. It may seem arbitrary, but it's only really effective on rock; if I let him punch ice like that -» He can follow his Mist's train of thought, and then shrieks as he enters the first room behind Ryohei and gets frozen solid by one of the sneaky-assassin-type Freezards. (Possibly infested with a mook? None of his Wrath's Officers did subtlety unless someone paid them a _lot_ of money.)

Lambo giggled and shot both tektites while he tried to escape the ice; Ryohei was trying to smash the Freezard with the Goron Hammer, and it just kept growing back. (At least Ryohei wasn't being frozen by the Freezard? He'd take that small mercy, especially as Lambo was very carefully staying out of the Freezard's way in a way that suggested he _would_ be frozen.) He shivered his way free of the ice and cast Din's fire while vowing not to get caught by another one of the ice demons.

There's a set of ice blocks in the way, and Ryohei bounces off them when he tries to ram through, making Lambo laugh hysterically. "There's a Hookshot target over here Tsu-nii."

(Smiling at the antics of his Sun he takes aim with the Hookshot; as he does so, there's a rumble from the corridor that hints at more boulders ahead.)

Hitting the Hookshot target (a slightly different coloured crystal) shifts the blocks out of the way, and he steps into the corridor, expecting enough warning to dive aside, but instead, Mukuro's laughing and the boulder comes out of nowhere and fuck, he's flying backwards. His Sun catches him, and then puts him down carefully, and once he's steady enough, leads the way up the corridor, once again punching the boulders out of the way. He groans when, as he steps into the room at the end of the long corridor, an entire pack of White Wolfos - tougher than their woodland equivalents - burst out of a snow drift, and four Freezards that were circling too, and how the hell was there enough space in this room for the mayhem that had just erupted?

Ryohei threw Lambo up into the air, and there was a yell of glee and the flaring flash of a Fire Arrow as his Lightning tested a theory, and his Sun concentrated on herding the Freezards while he lunged and dived and span through the pack of Wolfos. Lightning and Storm Flames crackled down the edge of the Master Sword, and the Wolfos yelped and gained their own dark blue Flames. «You might need to change your technique, Tsunayoshi. My apprentice has a rather high tolerance for being stabbed.»

He didn't want to know _how_ Fran had ended up with a high tolerance for being stabbed, especially given that the last time he'd seen the younger Mist, Belphegor had been hugging him. «Kufufufu. Don't worry about him.» That only has him _more_ concerned, and well, he's not quite sure what the train of thought is that ends with Sky and Sun Flames pouring through the blade. Possibly it's that he doesn't want to stab Fran; it might be curiosity about his Flames and what they can do, but it doesn't really matter because he makes contact with the brilliantly lit Master Sword and the Wolfos shrieks.

The sound is painful, and the wolfos blurs, moving far faster than before, swiping at him, and he goes down under 'Fran's' claws, and it's only Darunia-Ryohei's intervention that saves him from a messy death - and given that Fran has _some_ control over the dungeon, he's not quite sure where he'd wake up 'after' - and there's a shearing sound.

The room twists slightly, and there's Mukruo, holding wolfos!Fran by the scruff of his neck. "Excuse me, Tsunayoshi. I'm going to make my apprentice his senpai's problem." The two Mists vanish again, and he disappears back under the rest of the Wolfos, and he swears volubly and uses Din's Fire to finish them all off as he needs some blue potion _anyway_.

"Mukuro's mean." He waves a single finger in Lambo's general direction, blinks at the blood dripping down his arm, and drinks some more Blue Potion before even _considering_ doing anything else. "You were almost starting to get the hand of fighting Fran's Wolfos, Tsu-nii." His Lightning was teasing him he decided, and he pointedly ignores Lambo in favour of opening the newly revealed door.

There's another Wolfos in the next room, and he shrieks and shuts the door again. "Little brother?"

"Wasn't expecting another Wolfos when I opened the door, Oniisan." Lambo giggles from behind him, and he tries to figure out how he can chastise his Lightning. Perhaps he'd push him into the icy water later? Lambo had Nayru's Love after all. He shakes his head and opens the door again, lunging through it, Sword outstretched, and the Wolfos impales itself on it. He pours enough Flames through it that it disintegrates spectacularly.

"Wasn't that overkill, Tsu-nii?" He gives into the childish urge to stick his tongue out at his Lambo; as far as he was concerned, there was no such thing as overkill when it came to a possessable creature when there were manic Mists around.

"If anything, that was under kill, Lambo. If you don't believe me, _you_ can deal with Fran when he escapes from Mukuro again." He fishes the three empty bottles out of their pouch and approaches the blue fire warily, expecting another attack, or for something else odd to happen.

«Kufufufu. That would be _far_ too easy to allow you those lovely blue Flames to melt the 'Red' Ice, Tsunayoshi, and your beloved tutor agrees. Instead, there's 'just' enough green potion for you, and you're going to have to _practise_.» He groaned, palming his left eye, and he thought he'd dealt with the Reborn situation. «Mhmm. He bribed me well to get a minor revenge on you, Tsunayoshi. Something to do with unexpected discoveries and surprises.» He was so doomed. Completely and utterly doomed; both now - he was going to be ridiculously exhausted by the end of the Cavern - and once the game was done and Mukuro released Reborn from the Resident Evil cartridge.

The Red Ice in the room burns when he presses his hand to it, greedy and he needs to do this with finesse, rather than just being a blunt object, especially as he suspected that Mukuro would reset the dungeon if he left to get more Potions. Something about the 'just' enough comment made him think that even the three remaining Blue Portion doses had been figured into his Mist's calculations. «Kufufufu.» His Mist doesn't have to actually _say_ anything, and oh dear gods, he had just fashioned a rod for his own back, hadn't he?

"Are you okay, Tsu-nii?" His Lightning tugs him into a hug, and he wriggles.

"I keep forgetting the Mukuro can hear my thoughts and is entirely willing to _act_ on my worst assumptions about what modifications to the game he and Reborn had planned on making." There was a suspicious chuckle from Ryohei's direction, and he put two and two together and oh gods. Was one of the defining traits of his Guardians the desire to troll? Had Reborn infected them _all_? He shoved that thought into the back of his head, desperate to ignore it for as long as possible. «Are you sure you don't want me to answer those questions, Tsunayoshi?»

He pointedly ignores his Mist, using the excuse of the Red Ice finally melting, and he opens the chest to reveal the Dungeon Map, which dissolves in the same way as all the others have over the last half a dozen dungeons. He avoids de-Icing the other prizes; he doesn't _need_ their contents, and it'll save his Flames for when he absolutely does have to melt the Zero-Point Ice. He slides across to the burner that _should_ contain the Blue Fire, and fills his empty bottles with Green Potion; he sneaks a dose in between bottles, stolen mouthfuls to refill the stamina eaten by fighting the Ice to retrieve the Dungeon map. «Kufufufu. I'll let you have that, my Sky.»

... mental discipline. Perhaps he'd discuss it with Chrome; she had to have a way to keep her thoughts private from Mukuro, surely? «She's having a _lot_ of fun, Tsunayoshi. You'd have to work hard to get her attention.» He put two and two together (and got what he later discovered to be only two and a half at _most_ ) and blushed, and headed back to the big room they'd entered from.

"Ryohei, can you give me a boost -" his Sun picks him up and throws him up to the higher level, and he scrabbles at the red-Ice desperate for both a hand-hold and to avoid the Ice's greedy hunger. (Such a troll. That made four of his Guardians, and oh gods he was outnumbered.) He finds a toehold and concentrates on shaping his Flames to dismantle the Zero-Point Ice.

It almost _perfectly_ mimicked the 'real' version and ... «Kufufufu. You know how to make it; of course, I can reproduce it, at least in here. I'd have to drain you dry outside, but I could probably still Ice your sperm-donor.» He was very tempted; a week in bed in return for never having to deal with Iemitsu again (but without having killed him) sounded like an excellent bargain to him. It was enough of a distraction for the Ice to latch onto him and drain him almost dry. (What saved him, perhaps ironically, was losing his grip as the drain on his Flames shifted from pure 'stamina' to his 'health', too.)

He groaned as Ryohei caught him, and cradled him in strong arms, radiating sunshine warmth at him, but for all that would normally help, it didn't, and he made a rude mental gesture at his Mist and his tutor. Instead, he had to use one of his three remaining doses of Blue Potion, and that had him grumbling. "I need you to _hold_ me up so I can remove that red-Ice, Oniisan."

Ryohei does, and he barely avoids being squashed by the boulder that drops, abruptly, when the red-Ice melts, and he does let a string of expletives out that time. "Is that even physically _possible_ , little brother?"

"Mhmm. You just need someone athletic and bendy like Haru-nee or Tak-nii, Oniisan." He pointedly ignores their conversation; Lambo was making _very_ expressive gestures, and he had Freezards trying to kill him.

"Lambo-kun, if you want to be useful, come and help me with these damn icy-Mukuros!" There was a laugh from the room behind him, and then Lambo soared into the room, and fired a single carefully aimed Fire Arrow that took out both Freezards that were stalking him and playing 'ninja'. His Lightning gave a pleased whoop when he managed _that_ , and demanded a hug as a reward once he'd landed.

He was a little bit lost now; he'd thought that the Ice Cavern was game standard, but it obviously wasn't quite, and it wasn't the changes to the enemies. «Kufufufu.» He waits for his Mist to say anymore, but Mukuro refrains, and he hesitates a moment longer, waiting for his Sun to catch up with them (if there were any more Freezards, he was looking forward to letting Ryohei smash them).

"Oniisan, could you clear the way, _please_?" He takes a certain vicious pleasure into watching Ryohei smash into the pair of Freezards and the hidden switch in the next room, and Lambo laughed and latched on to his belt with a tendril - which sent his mind racing - and they followed his Sun. He'd mostly figured out how to glide on the ice rather than slip, and having Lambo as a counterweight helped, too.

Ryohei slams into the far wall and shakes his head. He gently peels off Lambo's tendrils and points his Lightning at the Freezard. "Can you shoot him, please, Lambo-kun, and then retrieve the Heart Quarter and compass, please? I suspect Mukuro is about to dump some more enemies in the room to play with us, and I'd like to get them collected." Lambo nods, and he boosts his Lightning up into the air and leaves him to it.

He's right; another half dozen Freezards and a pair of Wolfos appear, and he trusts his Sun to smash the Freezards while he deals with the thankfully unMisty White Wolfos. (They were more resistant to his sword unless he pushed his Storm Flames into than they _really_ should have been, but it was a minor thing compared to the manic-Fran-Wolfos had been.)

«Kufufufu. That reminds me; Belphegor says thank you for his tasty treat, and he'll leave you to Squalo's torture in the Rain Temple as 'thanks'.» He shudders, and shoves the train of thought that sets running back into its box, just in time to avoid being decapitated by one of the Wolfos. He spins under it, and on an impulse, tries combining his Flames again - but this time without using his Sky as a catalyst - and one of the Wolfos collapses as his Rain and Cloud Flame covered blade makes contact. "Oooooh. That's new, Tsu-nii!" He blinks; it had been an obvious thing to do - he'd seen Hayato do it in the Future-That-He-Completely-Objected-To - and it had worked.

How had Lambo's version of him not figured it out? And what did that mean for well, _everything_? He shook his head and caught his Lightning when Lambo dropped down, holding the Heart-Quarter and the Compass. (Except that it's only because Ryohei comes to his rescue that he doesn't end up flat on his back on the ice; his brain is still adjusting to Lambo's 'adult' size, and whatever funky thing that Mukuro had done with his weight to make the Deku-Leaf work.) He takes the compass from Lambo _first_ allowing it to sink into his skin - there's only one chest left, the one that contains the Iron Boots - and then his cheeks pink when he realises both of them are watching him intently, waiting for _something_ and he takes the Heart Container and bites it hastily and dismisses it as his Guardians being over-protective.

He can ignore the wretched skritching golden Skulltula; he'd already faked his way to the items he 'needed' from the Curse and headed back to the main room and the red-Ice there, trusting his Guardians would follow him (and pointedly ignoring the suspicious noises the two of them were making, and Mukuro's «Kufufufu» in his head).

This time he manages to dodge the boulders and gives in and uses Din's Fire on the Freezards. He also sticks his tongue out at Mukuro, mentally; if he could use Cloud to amplify his tiny scrap of Rain like that, then there were other things he could use it on, and he had an _idea_ for the big patch of red-Ice the Compass was 'ordering' him through.

Melting Zero-Point took enough Flames to overwhelm it, but if he could use one to fuel the other - holding the raging Flames he was pouring into the Master Sword in check was hard; he hadn't tried combining Cloud and Sky Flames together, and the Cloud wasn't sure it wanted to be 'focused' - once the blade was as charged as he thought he could make it, he hit the red-Ice, and it shattered into a thousand tiny fragments and he was left with a hundred tiny cuts, but also giggling gleefully because compared to the red-Ice earlier, that had barely drained him at all.

Of course, that's when he's hit by a boulder, but that's because Mukuro was a troll, and he lays there in the middle of the floor still giggling, waiting for Ryohei and Lambo to catch up and not speculating at all about what had slowed them down.

"Tsu-nii?" His Lightning was knelt next to him, looking a little dishevelled.

"You're _all_ trolls. All of you. It's Reborn's fault, isn't it?"

"He certainly encouraged us. Though Hayato and Kyoya save their trolling for other targets, if that helps?" Lambo's grin wasn't encouraging; he wasn't sure he wanted to know who his two strongest Guardians chose to torment. (Though knowing his Cloud, Kyoya probably chose to torment his Dino-nii; Hayato he wasn't so sure about.) His Lightning unstoppers the bottle with a single dose of Blue Potion in it, and carefully dribbles it into his mouth, for which he will be eternally grateful because the cuts were starting to _hurt_. "And we need to make a diversion via the pervert-Doctor's potion shop, once we're done here, Tsu-nii. By the time Kyoya is done with you, you'll be entirely out of Blue Potion, I think."

He sits up, rubbing out the aches the Potion failed to chase away. "Probably. But they're there to be used." Lambo gives him a very old look, but he ignored it in favour of _cautiously_ peeking through the tunnel he'd opened, and swearing as the Ice Keese took that as their cue to attack. Fortunately, he'd readied Din's Fire, and they vanished in pleasing puffs of smoke, and he was getting far handier with that spell and its Sun-Storm hybridisation, and _oh_. «It took you long enough to realise, Tsunayoshi.»

He edges up the tunnel warily, and then sighs. He had a Sun who was the nearest the game had to a tank _and_ liked hitting things. Why wasn't he letting Ryohei punch the boulders out of the way? "Oniisan?"

His Sun rolled past him, smashing into the boulders, and he rolled his eyes and exchanged a look with Lambo and followed Ryohei into the next major room. There are two pillars near the centre, and he watches in pseudo-dismay as his Sun crashes into one, then the other, releasing an entire _pack_ of White Wolfos, though none of them seemed to have the Flame-tint of possession on them. "Lambo, how many Fire-arrows do you have left?"

"Two. And one Light Arrow." There's a pause, and he can _hear_ the glee. "And I haven't used any of the Bomb Arrows yet." He was definitely making Lambo his Right-Hand's problem in training. His Lightning had been entirely too pleased with what he'd just said.

"Wolfos-Kebabs, please, Lambo." That laugh had to be endemic to Lightnings, because he'd now heard Haru, Verde, Spanner and _Lambo_ cackle when given free rein and it was scary, and he took cover behind Ryohei and was not ashamed to allow his Guardians have fun, especially as Squalo was almost certainly possessing the Stalfos up ahead. "Oniisan, can you toss me up to the door up there?"

Ryohei does, and he tucks and rolls and casts Din's Fire just in time to immolate the entire Cloud of Ice Keese before they swarm him _and_ gets two Stalactites before they drop on his head. He does a happy dance and retrieves the Fairy as a precaution before drawing the Master Sword and cautiously opening the door. He saves his shriek for when Squalo's 'ride' forms out of the ice between him and the door, slamming it shut before Lambo and Ryohei could follow him in _and_ freezing it for good measure.

There are thuds from the other side of the door, but given the way the Stalfos Squalo's 'riding' is grinning, it wasn't going to open until he'd defeated Xanxus's Rain. "Voooiii! The brats aren't getting in until I _let_ them in. That's the trick I use to keep my shitty-Sky in one place to get the paperwork done."

The techniques Takeshi had lent him worked best with Rain Flames, and water, and he poured Rain and Cloud into the Master Sword, and threw as much Sun into the air as he could scrape together. "And let me guess. I survive, you give me the Iron Boots." The Sun Flames are already starting to warm the room, and the ice is melting.

"Voooiii. If you're going to be _this_ innovative, baby-Boss -" The Stalfos collapses, and Squalo grins at him. "- I wasn't supposed to use this form _yet_ , but you're improving faster than your demon tutor thought you would." The Rain's body shimmers and then turns black, and he jumps backwards out of the way of the first vicious slash.

"How did you -" He ducks another swipe, rolling sideways and trying to make his first attack, but Squalo intercepted it with his own blade, and a dagger materialised in the Rain Officer's hand.

"Rain is tranquillity, baby-Boss." That didn't help until one of his own blows finally connects, and he gets the other part of the equation. The Master Sword passed straight through his opponent, and the slash sealed almost instantaneously.

He narrows his eyes, mind suddenly in overdrive, the calmness of Hyper Dying Will Mode helping him put the pieces together and when he has, he lunges, Rain and Cloud replaced in that instant with Sun and Storm, and Squalo laughed even as his avatar _burst_. "Voooiii! You really are getting better, baby-Boss. But we're going to make you not just competent, but _Varia Quality_. Your trashy-tutor has been neglecting some of the combat stuff." He whined at the back of his throat as the Stalfos reformed. "Now show me that you've mastered the Shigure Soen Ryuu forms my bratty kohai gave you, and _then_ you can have the Boots."

Squalo was a nightmare of an opponent, and he was not looking forward to what the Rain Officer would do with possession of the entire Water Temple to torment him, but he was also a surprisingly good teacher, which sort of explained why his own crazy-Rain liked his opposite number, matching form for form, and something Takeshi had said in the wake of the fighting in the Future-That-He-Completely-Objected-To made sense. He ended the 9th Form - Duplicate Rain - and pushed himself into one more attack, scraping together every bit of Rain and Sky he had, throwing himself sideways, and rolling round and up and lunging.

It kills the Stalfos, and he can feel Squalo's pleasure in his performance. "Voooiii. You figured out your Rain's style properly." The older Rain's presence vanishes, and the Chest containing the Iron Boots appeared and the door opened with a Crash at the same time, and Lambo barrelled into his side, bowling him over and hugging him viciously. «Kufufufu. I think the Varia will be demanding more of these games, Tsunayoshi; they're having far too much fun, and even Xanxus is talking about teaching us things.»

A snowball - more of an iceball, really - hits him, and the surprise sends him sprawling into the ice. "Not bad, Omnivore. That was amusing, even if the Shark-Herbivore didn't go all out against you."

His Cloud drops down from where 'she'd' been perching, landing perfectly. "Hibari-chan's _pretty_." The low murmur comes from Ryohei, and he throws his arm over his face, not wanting to see the resulting explosion. (Worryingly, he wasn't sure whether that was Ryohei being a troll, or genuinely attracted to Kyoya. It could be either.)

He's not disappointed, and Lambo giggles beside him, and coaxes him into drinking one of the Green Potions. Kyoya's still trying to kill Ryohei, but his Cloud's tonfas were bouncing off his Sun, and he ignored the fight in favour of retrieving the Iron Boots and slipping them on. They were just as heavy as he'd expected, and he shook his head before taking them off again. "Kyoya, Ryohei has no filters, and you know that. Ryohei, at least _pretend_ to be injured before you bruise Kyoya's ego." The barb is well placed, and Kyoya snarls and lunges at him instead.

He pours his own Cloud and his scrap of Lightning into the Hylian Shield, hoping it might stay intact this time, and Sun Flames into the muscles of his arm, to deal with the bruising and lets Kyoya exhaust himself before even trying to go on the counterattack. (It was a plan that wouldn't normally work, as Kyoya was a Cloud and inexhaustible, but in here, when Kyoya had first gone after someone else? He was feeling lucky.)

Perhaps not so lucky. He needed to remember that Kyoya was a. incredibly flexible (and that brought Lambo's early comment about Takeshi and Haru to mind) and b. willing to both bite and kick as well as use his weapons of choice. Ryohei finally intervenes, and that was going to come back to bite them later, the way his Sun was holding his Cloud in a bear-hug.

"Hibari-chan is behaving like Uri. It's cute." He whimpered and facepalm with his currently unbroken wrist and waited for more fireworks. Instead there's a hiss and the Serenade of Water unfolds it's self in his head, and his Cloud vanishes from Ryohei's arms. (And okay, he could see the resemblance; did that mean Kyoya would purr like Uri when Hayato petted him just right? The thought made him blush.)

He reaches for the Ocarina but Lambo scowls at him. "Put. that. away. Tsu-nii. Tsuyoshi promised us sushi, _remember_? And we need supplies, too." Ryohei nodded in agreement.

"Fine. We'll go and eat and _then_ get the Water Tunic and visit Shamal and rescue Takeshi. Though I'm not sure how much rescuing he'll need, given Squalo is running the Temple." Lambo giggled, and he realised the implications of what he'd just said, and how possessive Squalo had been about Takeshi in the Future and he blushed and buried his head in his hands.


	16. Interlude

"You're adorable, too, little brother." And he couldn't decide whether that was his Sun trolling or not, and he gave up. Given that Ryohei had just used -chan to describe Kyoya, it could be either. The way out of the Ice Cavern was a tunnel full of water, and he put the boots on reluctantly, and then promptly discovered two things the hard way. Firstly that not having the Water Tunic and being underwater was giving him flashbacks to how Hibari-san had killed him to activate the Vongola Ring, and secondly that Lambo apparently floated, come what may. (Which made sense because not-Hylian, and oh gods his mind was far too calm, and he flailed and shuddered and kicked the boots off.)

He trod water, using Lambo as a flotation aid and panted through the reminder of that moment when the danger in the Future had become _real_ \- that one of his notional allies had considered the risk of actually killing him to be worth the desired result - "Are you okay, Tsu-nii?"

"Will be. Just ... brought back memories of the Roll incident, Lambo-kun, and it was a surprise. Need a moment." Ryohei splashed into the water next to him and sank like a stone, and somehow having someone be in the water with him actually helped, and he took a deep breath, and let Ryohei tow him through the tunnel and into the next room. He broke the surface of the water with a gasp.

"Okay, little brother?" He nodded, and Ryohei nudged him, nearly breaking one of his ribs. "You need to summon Lambo; he'll be stuck in that room if you don't." Oh! He remembered Mukuro explaining that, and it was going to be useful in the Water Temple with all its levels and Ryohei and Lambo's natures in game. He rubbed a Sky Flame covered thumb over the green Medallion on his wrist, and Lambo grinned like a Cheshire Cat as he materialised in the room.

"Sushi! Sushi! Sushi!" He facepalmed at his Lightning and took a running swan dive into the Lake below, and wondered why that _didn't_ induce half a panic attack the way the Iron Boots had. (Perhaps it was the ability to surface as quickly as he needed to? Not that it mattered right now; providing he avoided losing the Water Tunic to a Like-Like - or Lussuria - he wouldn't need to use the Iron Boots on their own.) Lambo soared overhead on his Leaf, and Ryohei rolled underneath, a roar of amusement as he took the rapidly dropping incline in the bottom of the lake and rolling up the other side, and he swam across. He was looking forward to some of Tsuyoshi's sushi, too.

The elder swordsman was waiting for them at the Lake Entrance and pulled Tsuna into a hug. "I see you failed to round up your adorable grumpy Cloud, young Tsunayoshi?"

"Oniisan complimented him."

"Ah." Tsuyoshi paused and then grinned. "Kyoya is rather pretty, isn't 'she'?" He squeaked in disbelief.

"You're where Takeshi got those tendencies from!"

"Mmm. No, he's very much his mother's son; she was like your Chrome-kun, Tsunayoshi." He blinked, not quite sure what his Rain's father meant. Come to think of it, he'd never really heard _anything_ about Takeshi's Mama; Takeshi had only had his father for as long as he could remember. Tsuyoshi seemed to follow his thoughts. "The simple version is that his mother, Eiko, was a Mist Guardian; when Takeshi was five there was an accident that led to her and her Sky's death, and we came to Namimori for a new start." He twitched a little at the reminder of just how dangerous their world _could_ be, and Tsuyoshi shook his head, a little amused. "No, it genuinely was an accident, Tsunayoshi. Her Sky wasn't even Yazuka; they just miscalculated when doing an experiment."

There's a pregnant pause, and then Tsuyoshi turns towards the hidden door to the Royal Appartments within the Domain, and there's a luscious spread of sushi waiting for them. It looked _delicious_ , but it didn't stop him wishing that Takeshi and Kyoya and Hayato were here with them, too. "Tsu-nii, stop being so gloomy." The words were teasing, and accompanied by a shove from Lambo towards the food. "The Pineapple-pervert promised that no-one was going to be more than _mildly_ mentally scarred by the game."

"Not helpful, Lambo-kun, but the food does look very good, and we _should_ eat, shouldn't we?" The four of them settle down to the food, and he giggles when he realises that Tsuyoshi had managed to create 'rock' sushi.

"That was delicious, thank you, Tsuyoshi." The elder swordsman smiled.

"My son's Sky and his companions are always welcome in Takesushi. Now shoo, and go rescue my silly boy from himself. He gets ridiculous around your cousin's Rain." He wasn't going to ask, but given the things that happened in the future, including the new Shigure Soen Ryuu forms that Takeshi had come up with and Squalo's determination to reach them to train Takeshi, them being 'silly' around each other only seemed to be inevitable.

"Tsu-nii will play the Prelude of Light, _not_ the Serenade of Water. We _still_ need to go and see Shamal for some potions."

He makes a slightly sarcastic bow to his Lightning, but he's pleased with the way his Lightning has grown into himself, apparently. He'd been a little bit worried about Lambo, but having his adult self along within the game was reassuring him that he had managed to do right by his youngest Guardian, even if they had all been dragged into the Mafia with him.

"Fine, fine, Lambo. We'll go and see Shamal."

Lambo stuck his tongue out at him. "I'll protect you from our pervert-Doctor, Tsu-nii."

"I don't -" he paused, "- Lambo, _why_ would I need protection from Shamal?"

"Did I say that?" His Lightning looked frustratingly innocent, and he pulled out the Ocarina and pointedly played the Prelude of Light. Neither of his Guardians were close enough to him to be transported as well, and the wrench ached badly enough that he stumbled on landing in the Temple of Time. He remedied that that by rubbing a thumb covered in Sky Flames over both embedded medallions, and Lambo and Ryohei appeared to next to him in a rush of Sky and Mist Flames.

Lambo eyed him, and then squeaked and led the way out of the Temple and wove through the reDead and he chased after him unthinkingly. But his Lighting was very fast - faster than he'd expected - and he was still trying to catch him as they barrel into Shamal's shop. "Hah. Lambo-san really loves having learned to use that aspect of being a Lightning. You couldn't catch Lambo-san. Only Kyoya-nii can catch Lambo-san, and only sometimes, i.e. when he uses his Flames properly." Lambo giggles and hops up on the counter (there's a sweet scent, and he notes Shamal's attention switching to his Lightning). "Shamal-pervert, Tsu-nii needs some more Blue Potion."

"Tsch. Just fill the bottles up and go away, cow-brat." The words felt slightly off, but he couldn't put his finger on _how_.

"Tsu-nii?" He hands the empty bottles to his Lightning, who dips them into the large vat, deliberately wiggling his butt as he does so, and he facepalms, and can feel the start of a headache. Shamal snorts, then hands him a glass full of red potion and he chugs it down gratefully.

"Get him out of here before one of us does something we'll regret later." He leans over the workbench and picks up Lambo, bottles and all - his Lightning seemed to be able to vary his weight at will - and retreats from Shamal's shop with his mischevious Lightning over his shoulder. (Lambo moaned softly and went limp and compliant, and he was a little bit confused, but it wasn't worth overthinking right now.)

"You were insisting there needed to be sleep before we went to the Water Temple, Lambo-kun. Kokiri Village isn't really safe, and nor is Goron City - sorry, Oniisan - so where are we going to be able to rest and feel safe?" His Lightning doesn't answer, and he sighs, and spreads his Flames out slightly, looking for somewhere that felt safe, and his Flames brush up against his older brother's, and he heads in Dino's direction.

He finds the older Sky in one of the larger houses in the village, sprawled out on a double bed. Dino sits bolt upright when he enters the room, and winces almost imperceptibly. "Enjoying the game, Tsuna?"

"Mhmm. Are _you_ alright, Dino-nii? I saw that wince."

His older brother's cheeks pinked slightly, and Ryohei laughed, and he dumped his Lightning on the other bed. "Fran and Xanxus are an unholy match, and I've been trying to contain the chaos, Tsuna. It's been, uh, entertaining." Lambo moaned himself from where he'd been dumped, and Dino chuckled. "But you still have the Water Temple to complete before you get to see what they've been up to in there, though I will warn you that they've gone a little bit over the top with Wallmasters." His older brother shuddered. "You should see the interesting bruises I have from being ambushed by them; they're almost good as the ones your territorial Cloud keeps leaving on me. And speaking of Kyoya, you might want to move Lambo; that's Kyoya's bed, and he's been rather hair triggered after your last two sparring matches. I had to use my Flames in combat against him this morning to avoid him trying to break into the Castle to fight Xanxus."

He meeped, and Ryohei grinned and picked up his still limp and happy looking Lightning. Dino hummed thoughtfully, and then there were Sky Flames spreading over the hay in the unoccupied corner stall, and he tilts head curiously. "What did you just do?"

"Made the straw comfy enough for us all to sleep in tonight. It's a lot easier to do with something that's most of the way there already - people used to sleep on reeds - and is an application of Sky Flames blended with Mist Flames." His big brother moved rather stiffly over to the pile of Flame-enhanced hay with his blankets.

The three of them join Dino, and he finds himself pinned between Lambo and his big brother, and he squeaked a little bit as he realised that Dino really was female in the game, but his older brother's Flames, mixed with Lambo and Ryohei's lull him to sleep. (He rouses briefly in the middle of the night when more Flames are added to the mix, but they belong to his own, and the other set of Sky Flames are gone again by the time the sun wakes them all up.)

He and Dino both get bitten to death by Kyoya on waking _properly_ (despite his Cloud having joined the pile entirely voluntarily, he objected to their 'crowding'). At least with two of them teaming up on Kyoya, he got to go all out, even if the match _had_ ended up with Kyoya imprisoned in Nayru's Love. "Go, play with our swordsmen, Tsuna; I'll calm down Kyoya." He raises an eyebrow at his older brother, who had blood dripping down his face and a manic sort of grin on his lips.

"Has anyone told you that you're crazy, Dino-nii?"

"Squalo, but as he's crazy too, it doesn't count." He resists the urge to facepalm and fishes the Ocarina out of its pocket.

"Just don't let Kyoya kill you, Dino." Lambo and Ryohei crowd close enough to be transported as well, and he puts the Ocarina to his lips and plays the Serenade, and allows the Flames to catch all three of them up.

They land - without a stumble, this time - on the platform above the Water Temple, and he swaps to the Zora Tunic, and feels its flames settle over his skin. (And ignores the heavy feeling of being watched; he had to be imagining it.) "Oniisan, can we try an experiment? Lambo-kun floats on water, but we need to go underwater to get into the Temple, and before I just resort to summoning using your medallions, I want to see if you can 'carry' him in."

Lambo squeaks in protest when he's caught up by Ryohei, and he dives off the side before the giggles overtake him, and equips the Iron Boots on the way down. The separation wrenches, but then the ache fades as Ryohei lands next to him on the lake bed, a wriggling and protesting Lambo firmly held against his chest. He ignores the hissed argument and the thin vines he could see wriggling in the water and concentrates on Hookshot-ing the switch that would open the Temple; the water distorted things, and his demon Mist had taken the game's autocorrect feature away.

He cheers softly when he's successful and realises that with the whatever effect it was that the Zora Tunic was having, he hadn't panicked, despite being technically unable to breath; he'd have to examine the tunic once the temple was done, and see if he could coax his Flames into replicating it. (He hadn't realised how close to a phobia that had become, though of all the things from the Future-That-He-Was-Committed-To-Avoiding that he could have a phobia of, that wasn't bad.)

The entrance to the temple was precisely as he remembered it, and he walked through the tunnel and removed his boots, kicking off for the surface of the water. He surfaces in the temple proper, and it's far more dizzying looking down into the central chamber when the space is 'real'.

The temple itself is eerily quiet, without even the tektite that would normally be bouncing around on the water's surface and he finds himself holding his breath in the way that one did in the grounds of the shrine.

(Even if that was generally for fear of waking a sleeping Hibari, as the whole family liked to nap up there.)


	17. Water Temple (1/2)

It's Ryohei who breaks the tableau, and with an "EXTREME!" that echoes in the silent Temple as he moves past them, dive-bombing into the main chamber (and incidentally soaking both him and Lambo). He twitches and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Do you want me to see if the Iron-Boots are enough for both of us to sink, Lambo-kun, or are you okay waiting here for me to summon when I get into the next 'open-air' chamber?" His Lightning hesitates, peers over the edge, and then laughs.

"I'll be okay, Tsu-nii, but you might want to go and rescue Oniisan; I think Squalo figured out something about the 'spell' protecting us." Lambo looks mostly amused, and he joins him in looking over the edge into the water. At the bottom, in the dip, Ryohei's stuck, covered in the spiky metal balls that inhabit the bottom level of the temple and he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the sheer number of them. The primary advantage to Ryohei's reckless streak was definitely the fact that they'd clustered around his Sun, and this wasn't actually _hurting_ Ryohei, but _still_.

"I'll summon you as soon as I can." He dives off into the water and summons just enough Sun to make the Boots switch to their 'Iron' form. They drag him downwards, and he takes the handful of seconds that gives him to dig the Hookshot out and reinforce his shoulder against the strain it puts on it.

He lands with a thump at the bottom of the room and picks off two of the urchins fairly easily.(Though he does wish for a knife; switching back and forth between the Hookshot and the Master Sword was a headache, and it would be much easier to just stab the constructs with a shorter blade.) The rest attempt to swarm him and the following thirty seconds is an exercise in just how fast one could reload the Hookshot; fortunately, Ryohei took the hint and started smacking the stunned Spikes with the Goron Hammer, and he's got several cuts when everything's done. (And creepily and possibly forebodingly, blood trails curl from the cuts into the water. The only apparent mercy was the Temple's water was fresh rather than salt.)

While he _could_ get Ryohei to toss him up to one of the other entrances, the only one that was open 'normally' was the route he ended up taking; Takeshi _should_ be waiting for him at the other end of the corridor, but the back of his neck felt _itchy_.

The reason why became immediately apparent when he stepped into the opening and found Squalo waiting for him, a pair of sharks swimming around him, and his hair floating loose in the currents. "Voooiii! Took you long enough brat. Got my idiot kohai tied up where he can't break any other shit; get the fucking Temple done so I can get back to stopping the shitty-Boss from doing anything Stupid!"

The Rain Officer pushes off, swimming up in the same way Ruto - or Takeshi - would have done, but rather than follow him the two sharks - modelled on the one in the research laboratory - lunge for him, and he curses and scrambles backwards, not sure how to deal with them. They weren't supposed to be in the Temple! They really weren't, and he was going to do something unspeakable to Mukuro for _allowing_ the addition «Kufufufu. My apprentice really is coming on with his skills, isn't he? Though looking at them, they seem to be based on the Dodongo sprites so you might want to try doing what Gokudera is always threatening to do to people he's annoyed with.»

Oh his Mist _had_ to be kidding him, didn't he? How the hell was he supposed to get a bomb into a shark's mouth _and_ detonate it while under water? He's fumble-fingered, and the cold of the water is making it harder and harder to concentrate until he stumbles back into Ryohei, who was radiating warmth, and fuck, that was an insidious way to make this Temple trickier. He nearly drops the bomb, but when the closer of the two sharks lunges for him, he thrusts the bomb forward, and Ryohei's Flames flare and it detonates, covering them both in shark guts that slowly fade away. (But not before the second shark tries to bite him and meets Ryohei's fist instead.)

«Kufufufu. My apprentice has definitely been spending too much time around the fake-Prince. And you might want to eviscerate that other shark. Otherwise, it's going to want a taste of Hylian flesh.» He swears and brings up the Master Sword, allowing the shark to impale itself. «There's, hmm, a dozen of those in the Temple, with the capability to regenerate and 'roam', as far as I can tell. Have fun.» He waves a mental fist at his Mist and then removes the Iron-Boots, allowing himself to surface into the next room.

The walls are too smooth, and Ryohei makes a disappointed sound and calls up that he'll wait to be summoned. The room has four unlit torches and a locked door, and he takes a moment to orient himself before casting Din's Fire. It unlocks the door, and he debates between summoning Lambo and Ryohei or opening the door and actually trying to take the enemy behind it on his own.

Fuck it. He opens the door and gives himself permission to let loose on the three Stalfos behind it, and grins as he feeds his Sky into the Master Sword and spins and hacks and slices his way through the ensuing battle. A red tint fades into the orange Flames, and when he strikes one of the skeletons the bones disintegrate, and he cackles in delight. This is the third time he's summoned the Flame so similar to Xanxus's, and he was going to have to spend a bit of time experimenting with them when he was done with the Water Temple. He should really have discussed it with the Dino this morning, but Kyoya had been so very insistent on combat that he hadn't thought to ask. (Even though he had seen Dino mixing his Flames the previous night to make the straw comfortable enough to sleep in.)

Once he's killed all three of them and disintegrated them completely, he Hookshots the picture to retrieve the Dungeon Map, and exits the room to play Kyoya's Lullaby (he's hoping that it would actually work as a Lullaby for his exceedingly cranky Cloud outside of the game). That drops the water level in the temple, and he calls down the shaft, and then drops _carefully_ into his Sun Guardian's arms, back on the level at which he'd fought the sharks. "Thanks, Oniisan."

"You should be more careful, little brother."

"You were there to catch me, Ryohei."

"But you refuse to let me be there most of the time." He barely manages to suppress his flinch. He had been pushing his Sun away, hadn't he. But of all of them, Ryohei was the least entangled in the lifestyle he was being dragged into, who could walk away, and he didn't want to be the one that made his Oniisan a criminal. "I had a discussion with Knuckle-ojiisan, and he said that you'll _need_ me to stay sane. And if I want to protect Kyoko-chan, I need to use _all_ of the tools available to me."

He's not sure that he quite follows, but he's promised himself that he'll listen to his ~Guardians~ _friends_ , rather than ignore them the way the Ninth and his father seemed to. "If you're sure, Oniisan?"

"I'm EXTREMELY sure, little brother." Ryohei looked deadly serious for a moment. "This way I get to _choose_." He definitely isn't following all of Ryohei's train of thought, but that didn't matter really, did it.

"Even if it makes you a criminal, Oniisan?"

"My future-self was a doctor, little brother. Do you think I'd have been able to achieve that without the Vongola's support?" He wanted to object, but if Ryohei was right, it bore thinking about. Was what they could all gain worth the price they were going to pay? Ryohei obviously thought so, and Kyoya would have bitten him to death if he objected to being 'bound' to hold the Cloud Ring. "Now. We had some more of this temple to explore."

He smiles up at his Sun, and hugs him, and then casts Din's Fire, allowing it to spiral out from both of them to light the torches. It predictably opens the door to the next room, which contains two faintly shimmering Lizalfos and one of the spiky urchin things from the main room, which he leaves to Ryohei. (He could summon Lambo, but there's no room here for his Lightning to soar, and he gets the feeling that Lightning arrows - which Lambo had definitely figured out - were sort of cheating.)

With Squalo 'driving' the Lizalfos, they were far harder to combat than the Stalfos, especially with the way the spikey-urchin things started to multiply when Ryohei hit them, and that was weird; they didn't do that in reality, and his Sun was getting mallet happy and he curses volubly when one of the Spikes impales him through the thigh just as he kills the first of the Lizalfos. It pins him to the floor, and he's hard pushed to defend himself against Squalo's blows without being able to move, and Ryohei was covered in a swarm of the things, and he panics and throws all the Flames he can reach at the situation. The world goes up in rainbow Flames, and the world goes hazy as he breaks past Mukuro's enforced limits and drains himself dry.

The world comes back into focus with Lambo fluttering over him, the Lizalfos dead, and his thigh whole but aching and Ryohei looking bemused. "That was very EXTREME little brother." He agrees. It's been months since he lost control like that; it had been like Dying Will Mode when Reborn had started training him, down to the lack of self-control and the fatigue that was trying to pull him down.

"You okay, Oniisan?" His Sun nods, and Lambo helps him up to the feet and hands him the Compass that the room had concealed.

"Tsu-nii needs to be more careful. Lambo-san doesn't want to know what the Pineapple-pervert would do if he thought Tsu-nii was dying in the game too much. Pineapple-pervert likes torturing everybody too much." It seemed he was going to have to have _words_ with his Mist about who it was appropriate to torture. Though he suspected if he gave Mukuro a list of acceptable targets (like his father and the Ninth), he'd leave everyone else alone. Or at least he hoped that Mukuro would.

"I'll try, Lambo-kun. But if it's a choice between one of you and me,-" he trails off, and Lambo sighs.

"Lambo-san is going to join the Pineapple-Pervert in torturing Idiotsu. Perhaps Lambo-san will get all his cousins to help, too." His Lightning sounded serious about his intent. "Lambo-san will leave notes for Lambo-chan on how to be _really_ mean to Idiotsu."

"I, -" he shakes his head. "Okay, Lambo-kun. If I remember this bit of the Temple, then you get to stay with me, and we'll be summoning Oniisan when we need to." His Lightning gives him a look but doesn't argue the point.

He slips back through the door into the previous room, and looks around for Hookshot targets. He finds what he's looking for eventually, and he squints at it trying to figure out the distance, before giving up and just using his Flames to make up the difference. There's another picture in this room, and he Hookshots it for the Longshot, which almost seems anti-climatic given the way he keeps using his Flames to extend the regular Hookshot's chain length, but if it eases the draw on his Flames, he could see it's value. (But what would Takeshi end up wielding? Lambo had the Fairy Bow, and Oniisan had the hammer ... but then Takeshi had had a sword in Jabu-Jabu's Belly, so perhaps he already had a weapon to wield, and that was why he'd been given the Water Temple? (Other than Squalo's existence, of course.))

"It's a shame I can't play that Lullaby, Tsu-nii."

"I suspect it would make the temple too easy, Lambo-kun. Especially since Mukuro gave you the Leaf, and you seem to have figured out how to generate lift for it." He half expects his Mist to chime in, but Mukuro is suspiciously quiet, and he's not sure whether to be worried or relieved, because Mukuro causes the _worst_ messes when he's 'quiet'. «Kufufufu. I was just negotiating with Verde, Tsunayoshi. My Chrome needs real organs, and Verde wants to torture Reborn some more.» He refrained from facepalming, but really his tutor deserved it. «Superbi has enough control over his tertiary and a willing accomplice that I'm not the one running the Temple, anyway.»

Oh. _Shit_. He'd seen what Squalo thought was training; his cousin's Rain was almost as insane as Reborn was, and that was saying something. «He agreed to keep the temple _layout_ , and the Boss and sub-Boss, but after that ... I'm working on the modifications to Resident Evil and setting up the working for Pokemon, which is far more complicated than I thought it would be, Tsunayoshi. But it is amusing me.»

"Mukuro, Tsu-nii?"

"Squalo's running the Temple. The entire thing. Please don't get eaten by any of the Sharks, Lambo."

"Ha! Lambo-san will just shock the mean sharks." He shakes his head and sighs and dodges that pair of Spikes rolling around in the bottom of the now drained main chamber. There was a lullaby panel in the central column, if he remembered correctly, at that would let him raise the water back up again so he could get to one of the other bits of the temple.

There was. There was also, once he'd played the two songs necessary to raise the water level, two very hungry sharks who were between him and the door, and he was going to get bitten. Unless he tried to use them as stepping stones, maybe? He's mid-jump when his Lightning looses his arrow, and his foot has just made contact with the first shark when the lightning hits. Given that he's concentrating on his footing, he fails to bring up his own Lightning Flames to up to mitigate the shock, and he takes the full strength of the discharge.

He wakes up in Kakariko Village, in the straw he'd slept in the previous night, with his Dino-nii sprawled next to him, reading something in what _looked_ like Hayato-kun's handwriting. "Good to see you awake again, Tsuna." Dino put the sheath of papers down on the crate he was using as a table. " I think Mukuro must have changed your respawn point. I was a bit thrown to find you here when I came back from the Shadow Temple Not that I'm objecting to getting you to myself for a bit." Everything aches, and he whines, and his big brother grinned and petted his hair with a Sunny-Sky-Flame-covered hand, and he melts into the straw as everything stopped hurting abruptly. (That also reminded him that he had some questions for Dino, because this was the third or fourth time he'd seen him using a blended Flame and for all Xanxus was his, he was still _scary_ in a way that Dino wasn't. Though given Dino-nii liked fighting Kyoya, perhaps it was that Dino was just better at switching off?)

"So did I." He mumbles his answer under the Flame's heady influence. "Uh, Dino-nii, What'd'ja know about mixing Sky Flames with things? I keep doing it, and you seem to know how to it properly?" At least judging by the Sunny-Sky Flames currently stealing his desire to move. " I made a weird Flame with Rain and Sky, and I made Wrath, too, and I've seen you mix Sky and Sun, and Sky and Mist, too."

"Blend." Dino ruffled his hair, and he leaned into the hand. "Wrath's a blend. Most people don't have the discipline to learn how to blend their own Flames if they don't have a double-primary. Mixed is what happens when you have different Users working together to make a result." He made a confused sound. "I'm not good with analogies, otouto; blending's like combing two colours into a new one and mixed is like drawing a picture with different colours? You were a very pure Sky, with other things you needed to concentrate on, so I suspect Reborn was saving it for later. Xanxus and I are both 'tainted' Skies by current standards. Not that's how we think of ourselves, but people have been on a 'you should only use your primary Flame' kick for the last thirty years or so. Except Reborn's older than that, and Mammon is too, so we both got taught to exploit everything we could access." That made sense, sort of. "Sun and Lightning were easy for me to develop into something useful, given Reborn, and Mist got easier once I had Bono to work with, but even in here, I haven't been successful with the others yet."

"So practise?"

Dino-nii bit his lip, and then there was a pale indigo Flame covering his left hand and Sky-orange covering his right. "So if you've _not_ got a double-primary, like Xan has, this is the first step. It's like the way you set-up an x-burner, except that instead of one hand being 'hard' and the other 'soft', you separate the Flames. Then, well it's easiest to start with things that are really clearly a mixture of the two Flames, where you need distinct effects from two Flame Types. I'm still at the point with Mist and Sky where it's a very tight sequence, one then the other, but I'm nearly there at simultaneity, -" a cushion shimmered into existence next to them, and then _shifted_ , and he had to force himself to remember it had only just been made, "- if I were faster, you wouldn't have seen the cushion _before_ it had always been there. As to how I did it, I used Mist to 'create' the cushion, and then Sky to bring it into 'harmony' with the room, so it's always been part of the room; that's what gets considered mixing; two unbonded Flame Actives could produce the same effect, at least with practice."

He frowned. "And blending?"

"I can only do that with Sun and Sky at the moment, and well," his Dino-nii looked around, searching for something, "- we probably should take this outside; Kyoya'll kill me if I mess this up." That has him curious, and the Flames on Dino's hands vanish, and they both tramp outside, and up onto the hillside above the village. "Have your sword ready, otouto; just for my sanity's sake, please? And yes, I'm being a little theatrical so that you can follow what I'm doing more easily."

His brother's hands catch fire again, this time pale yellow and orange, and Dino puts them together, and the two flames melt into each other, and then there's a flash of the blended colour, and there's a riot of flowers and two Stal-children in the field. His brother pants and then the two stalchildren go down under his brother's whip. "First time I did _that_ , I was indoors, and I resurrected all of the wood in the building."

The only thing he can think to do is tease his brother. "Does this make you a Necromancer, Dino-nii?"

"Not sure, to be honest; I've only been able to practise this one in here, so I have no idea if it'll work in the 'real' world." His brother looks a little sheepish. ≤Oh, it will; it took some creative thought, but all of the Flame techniques you're using will translate to the real world. And it's going to be hilarious to watch people's responses to Dino being able to 'resurrect' his own, when it becomes necessary.≥ He must have a tell, that indicated to Dino that Mukuro was talking to him, because his Dino-nii was looking at him curiously. "Does your rather dangerous Mist have something to add, Tsuna?"

"Mhmm. He says that the Flame techniques we figure out in here should translate." There was a faintly evil smile on his big brother's face, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know what Dino was considering doing.

"I might have to test that theory out on someone, Tsuna. But I've monopolised you enough for a little while, and you were in the middle of Squalo's idea of a training course and I don't want him chasing me down for distracting you." He plays the Serenade of Water almost reluctantly and vanishes in a swirl of Flames; Ryohei and Lambo pounce on him the moment he rematerialises. (They're suspiciously unconcerned, and Ryohei's limping slightly, with a few fissures he'd swear are deeper than they have been, but given how cheerful they are, he'll not look this gift horse in the mouth.)

"Mukuro's mean, Tsu-nii."

"That wasn't him, Lambo-kun. He's left the Water Temple entirely to Squalo to manage." His Lightning's lips curve into an 'oh', and he actually bounces in place, and that told all sorts of tales. Ryohei's laugh rumbled, and he shook his head. "Let's see how much chaos he's created. Apparently, there's a dozen of those sharks in there?"

They drop back down into the Temple, and he's relieved that the Water Level is as it should be; Squalo hadn't been cruel enough to reset things. "We'll wait here for you to summon us, Tsuna." Lambo makes a sound of protest, but his Sun picks his Lightning up, and he dives off into the water, swimming for the next path he needed to take.

There's a yellow switch, and he could manipulate the Temple a little by calling Oniisan over to sit on it, but he doesn't; his Guardians are quietly bickering, and he slips through the door, hearing it clunk shut behind him. He follows the corridor round, until he reaches the split in the corridor, and he ignores the Gold Skulltula in favour of continuing around to the right. Very, very warily.

Rightfully wary, it turns out, because a pair of _very_ intelligent Lizalfos drop from above. They're not quite possessed - they don't have the pale blue sheen of Squalo's Flames - but they are significantly more intelligent than the previous ones had been. Faster, and capable of working together, and carrying a long blade and a short dagger, and he backflips away from one swipe, and pushes Sky Flames into the medallions, and his Guardians materialise. There's a squeak from Lambo, and Oniisan punches one Lizalfos, and there is a flurry of arrows, and the Lizalfos deflects some of them, and it takes all three of them working together to kill the pair. "Hee. Lambo-san recognises that trick of Squ-nii's; he normally uses it on Xan-nii's bullets when Xan-nii is being ridiculous. Lambo-san wonders if Take-nii could learn it?"

"Given Takeshi's already added at least one modification of one of Squalo's attacks to Shigure Soen Ryuu, I'm sure he can." He frowned thoughtfully. "Lambo, how does the bazooka work? Because you're not the same adult Lambo, I've met in the past. You've not burst into tears once, and there's a couple of other things I've noticed."

His Lightning grins. "Tsu-nii noticed. Lambo-san’s bazooka grabs the person from the _most_ likely version of the Future for the Now when it's fired, and I don't know if Take-nii could learn the attack because, in Lambo-san's future, Tsu-nii didn't bottle meanie Reborn-Navi, and didn't learn to get on with Xan-nii for another few years, and Take-nii drifted away to play baseball, and Squ-nii's only just dragged him back to the sword. Lambo-san can feel that this isn't Lambo-san's past anymore, but Lambo-san is enjoying himself too much to want to stop playing until Lambo-san has to." That only sort of made sense and he was afraid to ask for more detail in case Lambo broke out in Science babble that didn't make any sense. "You make a good Decimo, Tsu-nii, if a reluctant one, and you've made a lot of good changes. Lambo-san's cousins run Lambo-san's family now, and the little ones get to be children, not like Lambo-san. And Lambo-san's said enough; Tsu-nii needs to find Take-nii before he gets too distracted to play the game with us."

He made a mental note to do something about what Lambo had just hinted at. His Family obviously wasn't as bad as Mukuro's had been, but now he thought about it, it was probably bad enough; Fon as I-Pin's master had objected to her being sent to assassinate someone, and I-Pin had a lot of training compared to Lambo, half of whom's weapons were experimental.

"I promise not to ask, Lambo-san. But if there's anything you think I need to know, please tell me?"

"Lambo-san will." His Lightning pulls out the Deku-Leaf from wherever he keeps it. "Throw Lambo-san up, so Lambo-san can join you for the next bit, Tsu-nii."

He does, and then turns to Ryohei: "Are you okay waiting here for me, Oniisan?"

His Sun rumbles an affirmation and boosts him up to make the Hookshot easier to use. The next bit of the Temple is almost mindless, and he uses the few quiet moments, with Lambo floating overhead, to settle his Flames. They're far more reactive that they'd ever been (apart, perhaps from during the fight with Byakuran), and the cuts from the Lizalfos were already ninety-five percent healed, and he'd have to keep an eye on his 'stamina' if they were going to act on their own. (Though that did seem to be rapidly improving, and it wasn't clear why; he didn't have his Sky 'back' though he could also now identify the careful siphoning Mukuro was engaging in, and he was going to have to point out to his skittish Mist just how much that meant he trusted Mukuro.)

He barely avoids the spikes; they've been moved by his Wrath's devious Rain officer, and he swore volubly. Even a surface alteration to the Water temple's internal structure was more than had happened in the other temples, and it spoke volumes about why Squalo was Xanxus's Right Hand. "Lambo, there's a switch; normally I'd need to move a box to it, but could you stand on it for me, please?"

His Lightning bounces over to the switch he'd indicated, and the door opened. The next room makes him blink; he was trying to figure out how to make it work. It made his fingers twitch, and he wanted his Lightning's Deku Leaf because then he could just float up to the next level. Sighing, he brushes a Sky Flame covered thumb over the medallions buried under his skin, summoning them both. «As I'm not running the temple, Tsunayoshi, perhaps I can help, too?»

"You'd be welcome to come and play, Mukuro." He says the words out loud, and his Mist materialises and spreads his wings, shaking the feathers into place.

"Pineapple-nii." He wants to giggle at Mukuro's slightly shocked expression when Lambo launches himself at his Mist and hugs him viciously.

"Why are you calling me brother, brat? You didn't before ..."

"Because you _are_ one of my older brothers, Pineapple-pervert." He does giggle. Even if he _was_ going to be a Mafia Don, the cheerful late-teen Lambo that was playing Master Quest with him said he'd done - would do - something right in the process, and he'd been given several hints as to things he'd need to make sure happened.

Ryohei had wandered off to one side, and had started lifting the crates around the room, starting to investigate where the switch _might_ be. His Mist, on the other hand, was adorably confused. "You wanted to join in, Mukuro? Can you see where Squalo's made changes to the Temple; that might indicate where he's concealed the switch," his Mist's countenance brightens, and he takes to the air on those brilliant and elegant wings (ones that make him a little jealous, but he's glad of the colourfulness, as otherwise, they'd remind him of Byakuran and that entire mess).

"Kufufufu. The Shark has obviously been taking lessons from _someone_." Indigo Flames sketch a framework over the room, tracing connections between functional parts, and even outlining the Lizalfos that were waiting to ambush them once a set of conditions were met. There was even the shadow of the switch that had been moved, a pool of Flames bridging the gap to its new location, and he facepalmed as he realised where it was. There was a false wall over the door, and that was new; the fact there was no ledge for the bombs meant it had been designed for the new arrows he'd finagled for Lambo, and he was so doomed.

"We're about to get ambushed." He nods to his Lightning, "Lambo-kun, two arrows please; there'll be a switch behind the wall."

Mukuro's wings sharpen and glisten, and he's curious as to how his Mist intends to fight, he soon finds out; Lambo fires, and the wall shatters, and the switch catches, and the Lizalfos _swarm_ them. Wings flash, and arrows whistle, and Ryohei laughs and rolls, and the Lizalfos are everywhere, and seem to be into parkour and incredibly robust, and he draws the Master Sword, and dives into the fray.

He's nursing a fairly severe sword-wound, but is also so high on adrenaline that he doesn't care when Mukuro finishes off the last of the three attackers with an apparently knife-sharp feather to the throat. "Kufufufu. That was surprisingly good fun, Tsunayoshi, though you should probably do something about that hole in your side before I have to drop you in Cavallone's lap again. He's getting quite good at his resurrection trick and needs to practice it on a fresh corpse." He rolls his eyes at his Mist, and concentrates on stitching his own flesh back together again with Mist and Sun Flames, which earns him a _look_ of his own. "Why didn't you just 'make' the wound go away, Tsunayoshi?"

"This is how my Flames want to fix it, and this way I don't have to worry about the wound opening again, unlike the issue Chrome had in the Future-That-Can-Fuck-Off, Mukuro." His Mist only looks more thoughtful.

"Kufufufu. I might have to talk you and the Cavallone into doing some delicate repair work on us before we start the next game, Tsunayoshi. And as I need to do a little maintenance on the Arcobaleno's prison - your tutor is behaving like his apparent chronological age again - I will join you again _later_." Mukuro vanishes, and he wonders exactly what damage Mukuro _meant_. If it had only been to Chrome, he wouldn't have used _us_ ; he'd need to pin the entire Kokuyo Gang down, and check that they were all healthy and functional.

"Ready to carry on?" He checks his Lightning and his Sun carefully; he knows about Nayru's Love _intellectually_ , but he's never _not_ going to check his own after a melee like that. Not with the state that they always seemed to end up in after the big set-piece battles.

"We're good, Tsu-nii." They really are both okay; even the fissures he'd noticed in Ryohei's carapace had mostly closed back up again, and he checks his mental map, and hmm. "You were the only one that was injured."

"I can boost you up to get to the next room, Lambo-kun, but given the walls are slippery, Oniisan, I'll summon you as soon as possible; I think this door is about to return us to the main room." His side is healed enough that it doesn't even protest when he uses the Hookshot to reach the highest point in the room. The door does indeed lead through to the highest point in the Temple, and he plays Kyoya's Lullaby to raise the water. (He still wants to know if the Lullaby will work on Kyoya outside the game.) He has to wrack his brain to remember what he needs to do next, and Kami-Save him, he hoped Squalo hadn't changed too much. There were going to be sharks in the room he was aiming for, anyway, but he could summon Lambo to help with that.

"I'll call you when I'm in the centre room, Lambo-kun. Please wait for me to get out of the water, this time?"

"Lambo-san forgets other people aren't as immune to lightning, Tsu-nii. Lambo-san will try to remember?"

"I'll call you once I'm out of the water, then, Lambo, so you're not tempted." His Lightning sticks his tongue out at him, and he dives off into the water before Lambo can retaliate, and swims in the direction of the door he could use to get into the central column. He'd need to use the boots, but given the Water Tunic allowed him to breathe, he wasn't worried (Mukuro had crafted it from a mixture of Cloud and Storm and Sun Flames, and its mechanism was disconcerting, but it worked, and if it would carry over into the outside world, it would also work for noxious gases.)

He opens the door and wishes he had a dagger to stab the sharks that immediately try to bite him, and then remembers the Hookshot and tests it out on one of the sharks. It stuns it, and he hits the other one, too, and that gives him sufficient time to allow him to get to the surface and to scramble up onto the block. Once there, he thumbed the Forest Medallion, and Lambo shimmered into existence, and there was a cackle as his Lightning notches and releases one of the arrows he'd created with his own Flames. The sharks both end up floating on their sides, before vanishing in the way that dead enemies did in the Temple. It was almost a shame that that method worked far too well on _him_ when he was in the water, which he suspected he would be for the other sharks.

He cast Din's Fire to light the torches, and the gate below scraped as it opens. "I'll summon you as soon as possible, Lambo-kun." His Lightning hugs him tightly, and he dived into the water, 'activating' the Iron Boots and sinking into the water, aiming for the now open aperture. He swipes his thumb over the Fire Medallion as he touches bottom, and is comforted by the dull thump as his Sun lands beside him.

Except that Ryohei promptly smashes all the crate and activates the switch in the process and he heaps curses on Squalo's head as another set of the sharks launch themselves at him, and fuck, their bites _hurt_ , and while Ryohei's punches stunned them, it didn't kill them, and nor did his Hookshot and damnit Squalo's done something to the sharks because they seem able to _dance_ around his sword. He actually resorts to shoving one of the bombs into a stunned shark's mouth and force detonating it. The bomb does the trick, and he channels Hayato to deal with the other two. (And he was going to have to let Hayato teach him more about explosives because this was rather therapeutic.)

With the sharks dealt with, and the bite wounds already eighty percent healed, they can continue, and Ryohei comes into his own, easily climbing up the two movable walls, and then collapsing them with his weight, to reveal the next switch. Hitting it opens a grate in the ceiling, dropping a handful of new Spikes into the room, but they're easy enough to deal with between the Hookshot and the Hammer, and Ryohei boosts him up enough to Hookshot the picture in the higher room to retrieve the small key the room hid.

Returning to the same level as Ryohei, he led the way back to the central room, and summoned both of the Guardians to him once he was on the ledge with the locked door; he suspected that he'd need them on the other side of it. He's right; when he tries the same trick that Mukuro had used to find the relocated switch, he realises there's a swarm of Keese and a dozen targets waiting for their activation conditions to be met. "Lambo-kun, do you have enough Lightning Arrows? There's a _lot_ of Keese just waiting for the switch to be hit, and I have to Hookshot to the top before the timer ends."

"Give Lambo-san a few minutes, Tsu-nii. Lambo-san used his last one on the sharks earlier. Maybe Tsu-nii could _eat_ something?"

"And you could come here, and I can explain how to improve that EXTREME sun technique you were using, little brother." His Sun snatches him up in a relatively gentle hug and swings him up to sit on one of the crates. Thick but surprisingly dextrous and warm fingers poke gently at the two wound sites that Ryohei had witnessed his healing, and he winces. "You were EXTREMELY better than I was when I first used them to heal, but it works best if you EXTREMELY heal wounds from inside to outside. Otherwise, you end up with stuff under the skin and it _itches_."

Lambo looks up at them both from where he's assembling himself Lightning arrows. "Food, Tsu-nii. There's stuff for Oniisan in there, too." He complies; his Lightning seems to have been taking lessons from someone in how to manage him with pointed looks and pouting lips. It's quite obvious which is food for him, and which for Ryohei when he pulls it out, and he passes what looks like an amethyst geode over to his Sun, who bites into it enthusiastically.

Once they've eaten, Lambo lifts one of the bottles from their pouch and drinks half-a-dose of green potion. "Lambo-san is ready. Lambo-san will let Tsu-nii concentrate on getting to the door. Oniisan should climb up _there_ , and Lambo-san will enjoy shooting the Keese."

The switch is barely concealed, and Cloud Flames make the room almost too easy. He's able to Hookshot to the top without having to perform the Hookshot-and-scramble games a half dozen times within the timeframe. With Lambo dealing with the Keese (he's hardened his skin as a precaution, which proves a reasonable choice when his Lightning nearly hits him), there isn't even the threat of being hit by one of the Keese. It's anti-climatic, and he opens the next door, only to 'Hiiieee' and slams it shut on a Stalfos's blade.

They were glowing _blue_ , and he'd seen a _dozen_ before he shut the door! His Sun and his Lightning are at his back though, and he tilts his head and thinks _loudly_ at his Mist.

«Kufufufu. I'd be delighted to come and play, Tsunayoshi. You do have my medallion to summon me with.» He'd almost forgotten that, and is about to make use of it when Mukuro swirls into being, and is promptly hugged by Lambo again, amusingly.

"Ready now?" There's affirmation from all three of them, and there was something heady and delightful about spinning through the raging melee with his Guardians at his back, and it would be even better (and more fun) if he had the missing three there, and perhaps his Dino-nii and his Wrath, too? He's panting but uninjured, and high as a kite, and Xanxus was also making more sense now. He wasn't sure he would enjoy 'real' combat with actual deaths as much, but the adrenaline and everything else was making this fun, despite everything. Hadn't there been rumours about the new game that was to come out soon, Hyrule Warriors? It would probably make a good bonding exercise with his Wrath and his Wrath's Guardians if it were anything like the other games in the 'X' Warriors series.

Once he's Hookshot-ed up to the highest platform, he uses the Ocarina to release one of the un-bottleable fairies, and it eases every ache he has from the battle below. Wary of what Squalo has prepared for him in the next room; he recognises that door, and at the very least there was going to be a Dark version of him on the other side of the door. "Kufufufu." Mukuro lands next to him, and his Mist is looking disturbingly cheerful, covered in rapidly disappearing video game blood, and he'd probably enjoy Hyrule Warriors, too. "I think we all have mirrors in there, dear Tsunayoshi."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Collection] E-Rated Scenes from "Master Quest"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13935477) by [Night-Mare (Aoife)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare)




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